LONDON (AP) – AstraZeneca said Monday that late-stage tests show its Covid-19 vaccine is 90% effective in diseases.
The results are based on an interim analysis of trials in the UK and Brazil of vaccines developed by Oxford University and manufactured by AstraZeneca. None of the vaccine recipients were hospitalized or reported serious cases of CIV-19, AstraZeneca said.
The hearing looked at two different dosing resins. The full dose was 90% effective except for half a dose of the vaccine, followed by at least one month. The second regime was 62% effective, using two full doses at one month intervals. Combined results show an average effectiveness rate of 70%.
“These findings show that we have an effective vaccine that saves many lives,” Professor Andrew Pollard, the chief investigator of the hearing, said in a statement. “Interestingly, we’ve discovered that one of our dosing systems can be about 90% effective.”
AstraZeneca is its third-largest pharmaceutical company to report late-stage results for a possible Covid-19 vaccine, as public health officials around the world anxiously await vaccines that will end an epidemic that has killed nearly 1.4 million people. Pfizer and Moderna noted last week that preliminary results from late-stage tests showed their vaccines were about 95% effective.
However, unlike many of its competitors, the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine does not need to be stored at ultra-cold temperatures, making it easier to distribute in developing countries.
AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot said the company’s commitment to a simple supply chain for the AstraZeneca vaccine and to provide it on a profitable basis during an epidemic means that it will be affordable and available to people around the world.
“The effectiveness and safety of this vaccine confirms that it will be highly effective against COVID-19 and will have an immediate impact on this public health emergency,” Soriot said.
U.S. Amid the resurgence of the virus in most states and in many countries, the rate of Kovid-1 infection is on the rise, prompting governments to close businesses and ban social gatherings around the world. England is still in the midst of a four-week lockdown that has closed all non-essential stores, while U.S. In, the government’s top health agency has recommended that Americans not travel to visit family and friends on the Thanksgiving holiday this week.
Now that AstraZeneca has announced its interim results, regulators must approve the vaccine before it can be widely distributed.
Britain has ordered 100 million doses of the Oxford vaccine, and the government says several million doses could be produced before the end of the year if regulator approves.
British Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the news of the effectiveness of the AstraZeneca vaccine gave him “a great sense of relief”.
“Just months ago, when we were infected with the virus, the idea that we would have three vaccines by November was more effective વધારે I would have given my eye teeth,” he said.
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