LONDON — Oxford University and AstaZeneca reported on Monday morning that their "vaccine for the world" was safe and 79 percent effective overall, according to data from a long-awaited clinical trial in the United States, alongside other studies in Chile and Peru.
In a press release, the Oxford researchers, who developed the drug for the pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca, said their coronavirus vaccine is “safe and highly effective, adding to previous trial data from the United Kingdom, Brazil and South Africa, as well as real-world impact data from the United Kingdom.”
The trials included 32,449 adult participants in all age groups, most of them in the United States. The volunteers received either two standard doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine or a placebo, at a four-week interval, the researchers said.
The scientists said the data show the vaccine is 79 percent effective against symptomatic covid-19 and 100 percent effective against severe illness.
This is considerably higher than the Oxdord-AstraZeneca trials in Britain last year, which showed 62 percent efficacy.
AstraZeneca said that the Data and Safety Monitoring Board in the United States “reported no safety concerns among the participants receiving at least one dose of the vaccine.”
The results were reported in a pair of brief press releases from the pharmaceutical company and the university scientists.
AstraZeneca announced it will be submitting the full results to the scientific community in a peer-reviewed medical journal, and to the regulators at the U.S. Food and Drugs Administration to seek emergency approval for use.
The British-Swedish drug company said, “vaccine efficacy was consistent across ethnicity and age. Notably, in participants aged 65 years and over, vaccine efficacy was 80 percent.”
The U.S. government has pre-ordered 300 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine.
The FDA has already approved vaccines from Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson.
The Pfizer and Moderna shots have shown up to 95 percent efficacy against symptomatic covid. The Pfizer vaccine requires special handling and must be kept at especially cold temperatures in special freezers.
The one-shot Johnson & Johnson efficacy rate is 66 percent overall and 72 percent in the United States in preventing moderate to severe cases of covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, according to data presented to the FDA.
The AstraZeneca vaccine can be stored in an ordinary refrigerator — and is relatively cheap, about $4 a dose. The company has vowed to sell the vaccine at cost.
If the AstraZeneca shot is approved by the FDA for emergency use it would offer the United States a bounty of vaccines — either to administer to U.S. citizens or provide to needy countries around the world. Most nations have not administered a single dose of any vaccine.
Use of the AstraZeneca vaccine was paused across Europe last week after reports of a handful of rare but worrying blood clots. After searching for but not finding a causal link, most countries decided to begin administering the doses again.
The European Medicines Agency, which regulations drugs in the European Union, said the vaccine was safe and effective.
Ann Falsey, professor of medicine at the University of Rochester School of Medicine, who was a leader of clinical trial in the United States, said: “It’s exciting to see similar efficacy results in people over 65 for the first time. This analysis validates the AstraZeneca covid-19 vaccine as a much-needed additional vaccination option, offering confidence that adults of all ages can benefit from protection against the virus.”
FREE ROBUX
FREE ROBUX
FREE ROBUX
FREE ROBUX
FREE ROBUX
FREE V BUCKS
FREE V BUCKS
FREE V BUCKS
FREE V BUCKS
FREE V BUCKS
AMONG US MOD MENU
AMONG US MOD MENU
AMONG US MOD MENU
AMONG US MOD MENU
AMONG US MOD MENU
Sarah Gilbert, the Oxford co-designer of the vaccine, said in a statement, “In many different countries and across age groups, the vaccine is providing a high level of protection against covid-19 and we hope this will lead to even more widespread use of the vaccine in the global attempts to bring the pandemic to an end.”