LONDON (Reuters) - Britain hopes that the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine will be approved by the UK’s independent regulator, the MHRA, in the coming weeks, said the health minister Matt Hancock. “We very much hope that that will get approval...We hope that to come through in the next couple of weeks,” Hancock told the BBC. “It has to be a decision for the independent MHRA, who will only approve it if it is safe to use and effective. So that works underway. And I wouldn’t expect anything for the next couple of weeks.” Britain’s vaccine task force chair Kate Bingham told the BBC she was optimistic that it would be approved.