[Aource: Aljazeera]

AstraZeneca expects to have a new version of its COVID-19 vaccine ready for use by mid to late 2021.

They were responding to concerns about emerging variants of the disease that may be more transmissible or resistant to existing vaccines.

The Anglo-Swedish company, which makes a vaccine developed by the University of Oxford, says researchers began work on the updates months ago when the new variants were first detected.

The comments came as CEO Pascal Soriot defended the company’s efforts to develop and ramp up production of the shot amid criticism from the European Union and an initial study that raised concerns about the vaccine’s ability to combat a variant of COVID-19 first discovered in South Africa.