Astra-Oxford vaccine prevents average 70 percent of COVID-19 cases

*While the other two vaccines (Pfizer and Moderna’s) have to be stored frozen, the Astra-Oxford jab can be kept at refrigerator temperature, which would make it easier to transport and store globally, particularly in lower and middle-income countries

Isola Moses | ConsumerConnect

With one dosing regime showing 90 percent effectives, while the other less protection, a COVID-19 vaccine developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca Plc prevented a majority of people from getting the disease in a large trial, another promising development in the quest to end the ravaging pandemic.

Agency report says the vaccine stopped an average of 70 percent of participants from falling ill, an early analysis of the data showed.

That’s below the high bar set by Pfizer Inc. and Moderna Inc., but effectiveness rose to 90 percent for one of two dosing regimes, using half a dose followed by a full one later.

Astra Spokesman said: “We see a lot of merit in this regimen and we will now start discussions with regulators into incorporating this dose combination for further clinical investigation.

According to the company in a tweet, via University of Oxford (@UniofOxford)

November 23, 2020, “today marks an important milestone in the fight against #COVID19.

“Interim data show the #Oxford Vaccine is 70.4 percent effective, & tests on two dose regimens show that it could be 90%, moving us one step closer to supplying it at low cost around the world

Despite the apparently lower efficacy than shots from Pfizer and Moderna, which each prevented about 95% of cases, the British vaccine has some advantages when it comes to distribution.

While the other two vaccines have to be stored frozen, the Astra-Oxford jab can be kept at refrigerator temperature, which would make it easier to transport and store globally, particularly in lower and middle-income countries. It also comes at a lower cost.

It was gathered the findings were reviewed after 131 trial participants contracted Covid-19. Among those who received the vaccine, there were no severe cases of COVID-19 in the trial and no participants were hospitalised.

The different results of the two dosing regimens, with a less effective two-shot system preventing 62% of cases, may leave questions about the best way to give the AstraZeneca shot, report said.

However, analysts at Barclays Plc had put consensus expectations for what would be deemed a success from AstraZeneca at 70% to 90%, following conversations with investors in Europe and the US.

AstraZeneca said it will immediately prepare to submit data to authorities around the world that have a framework in place for early approval.

The company said it would seek an emergency use listing from the World Health Organisation (WHO) for an accelerated pathway to vaccine availability in low-income countries.

Oxford Professor Andrew Pollard told the BBC Radio that the more effective of the two trial regimes, starting with half a dose, could provide advantages.

Pollard said: “It means we will have a lot more doses to distribute if that way of vaccinating was approved.

“Those who got that regimen with higher protection, there’s a suggestion that it was also able to reduce asymptomatic infection.

“If that’s right, that means that we might be able to hold the virus in its tracks and stop it from transmitting between people.”

On how the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine works, report stated the viral vector vaccine uses a harmless virus to transport genetic material which triggers an immune response to the Coronavirus.

The results were based on trials in the UK and Brazil. A much larger US trial, which will be key for approval there, is currently using the two-dose regimen, which the results so far show to be less effective.

In light of the different outcomes for the dosing regimes, investigators are looking at making changes to other trials and discussing this with regulators.

Report added that vaccine developers will not know how long any protection lasts for a number of months as they monitor antibody levels to see how quickly or not they fade. U.K. and European Union regulators are conducting accelerated reviews of the results from both Astra and Pfizer, which has applied for an emergency use authorization in the US.

Astra and Oxford have been among the fastest-moving vaccine developers from early on in the pandemic.

After years spent working on a vaccine against COVID’s relation Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, Oxford’s scientists had an advantage that allowed them to move quickly to create a shot, report said.