ARCHIVED - Oxford and AstraZeneca vaccine shows an average efficacy of 70% against Covid
ARCHIVED ARTICLE
This is one of the vaccines included in the European Commission block buying programme in which Spain is a participant.
Preliminary results of the clinical trials of phase 3 of the Covid vaccine being developed by the University of Oxford together with the pharmaceutical company AztraZeneca have shown an efficacy of 70.4%.
Results reported by Pfizer and Moderna were both significantly higher than these latest test results, both reporting that their respective antidotes protect 95% of the cases analyzed, using a different technique to this vaccine.
In a statement, AstraZeneca reports that its vaccine, called AZD1222, consists of two doses a month apart and has shown 90% efficacy in one study group and 65% efficacy after the second dose in another analysis group, the result of which is an average efficacy of 70.4%.
The company has announced that an independent committee has verified the security of its data and has determined that the protection against COVID-19 of its vaccine shows at least 14 days after receiving the two doses that make it up.
AstraZeneca has also announced that during its trials "no serious safety events have been confirmed" and that its AZD1222 vaccine "was well tolerated in both dosing regimens", as no serious cases of Covid have been reported or required hospitalization between the nearly 23,000 participants in the trial. Researchers have noted that their preparation "is effective in preventing many people from becoming ill and has been shown to work well in different age groups."
The Swedish-British pharmaceutical company is now preparing to apply "immediately" for "conditional or early" approval from the authorities around the world. In addition, the company wants to accelerate the availability of vaccines in low-income countries.
The full analysis of the interim results has not yet been published in any scientific journal for review, but neither has this step been taken by Pfizer or Moderna.
Simpler supply chain
AstraZeneca CEO, Pascal Soriot, said that "today is a milestone in our fight against the pandemic. This vaccine confirms an efficacy and safety that will immediately impact the health emergency" that the world is going through. Soriot has also underlined the "simple supply chain" that this vaccine needs, which requires a temperature of between 2 and 8 degrees Celsius, the cold that a conventional refrigerator can generate, to be handled, transported and stored for at least six months.
The company has reported that its trials are taking place in the US, Japan, Russia, South Africa, Kenya and Latin America, and are planned in other European and Asian countries. In total, it expects to have up to 60,000 participants around the world.
AstraZeneca expects to produce up to 3 billion doses of its vaccine in 2021 continuously, although it is currently pending regulatory approval.
AZD1222
AZD1222 was co-invented by the University of Oxford and its spin-out company, Vaccitech. It uses a replication-deficient chimpanzee viral vector based on a weakened version of a common cold virus (adenovirus) that causes infections in chimpanzees and contains the genetic material of the SARS-CoV-2 virus spike protein. After vaccination, the surface spike protein is produced, priming the immune system to attack the SARS-CoV-2 virus if it later infects the body.
Spain is participating in the block buying project of the European Commission.In total, the EU will be purchasing 1,400 million doses, of which 10% will be allocated to Spain, and includes this vaccine.
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