Half a billion doses of the Oxford AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine have been released for supply globally, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said.

Speaking at the Jenner Institute in Oxford today, he said: “The Oxford vaccine, developed by brilliant science here in Oxford, linked with AstraZeneca’s industrial might, backed by the support of the UK Government, together, make it available at cost, this is in my view the greatest gift that this nation could give the world during this pandemic.

“A vaccine that’s available at cost – with no charge but intellectual property – and that because it can be stored simply offers hope for the developing world.

READ MORE: Covid-19 variants to be renamed to avoid 'discrimination'

“So, as well as the money that we’ve donated – giving half a billion pounds to Covax (the global vaccine sharing facility) – we’ve also given the world the vaccine, which makes up 96 per cent of those Covax doses.

“As of today, I can confirm that over half a billion doses of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine have now been released for supply globally, the majority of them in low and middle income countries.”

Mr Hancock said that the Government was also in negotiations with AstraZeneca to secure a 'variant vaccine' adapted to tackle the variant first identified in South Africa

It comes days after global health leaders announced Covid variants would be renamed to avoid 'stigma'.

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