The Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine is expected to be available for public use in early next year.

Late-stage trial results of a potential COVID-19 vaccine being developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca could be presented this year as the British government prepares for a possible vaccination rollout in late December or early 2021.

The delays in creating a vaccine has severely impacted Europe with the rising cases of COVID-19 across the continent.

There are more than 200 candidates under development and the vaccine being developed by Oxford and licensed to British pharmaceutical AstraZeneca AZN.L is seen as a front-runner.

Oxford Vaccine Trial Chief Investigator Andrew Pollard told British lawmakers that establishing whether or not the vaccine worked would likely come this year, after which the data would have to be carefully reviewed by regulators and then a political decision made on who should receive it.

AstraZeneca team has previously said that four million doses hopefully would be available at the end of this year and 30 million doses were expected in this past September; a goal that could not be reached due to slow testing.