A DRUGS company has taken on the challenge of making and distributing Oxford University's potential coronavirus vaccine around the WORLD when the time comes. 

AstraZeneca, a Cambridge based pharmaceutical company, has signed an agreement with the university to make its promising vaccine to scale. 

There has been some discussion over the timescale of the vaccine and how long it will take to make it on a large scale. 

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But today Matt Hancock, the secretary of state for Health and Social Care, announced the 'hugely welcomed' news on Twitter.

He said: "The Oxford University vaccine is one of the most advanced in the world. Bringing together the best British science and the best of British business will give us the best possible shot of a vaccine.

"The science is uncertain, and no vaccine may work, but this deal gives the UK the best chance we can of a breakthrough that could defeat this awful virus. 

"I'm sending best wishes for good fortune to all involved - for the sake of the nation and indeed the whole world."