AstraZeneca COVID-19 Vaccine 76% Effective – Report

AstraZeneca said its COVID-19 vaccine was 76 percent effective at preventing symptomatic illness in a new analysis of its key trial in the United States slightly lower than the level 79% announced earlier this week in a report that was criticized for using outdated information.

The latest data was based on 190 cases of coronavirus among more than 32,400 participants in the United States, Chile and Peru.

The earlier interim data was based on 141 infections up until 17th February.

The latest data had been presented to the independent trial oversight committee, the Data Safety Monitoring Board.

It was reiterated on Thursday that the AstraZeneca shot, developed with Oxford University, was 100 percent effective against severe or critical forms of the disease.

It also said the vaccine showed 85 percent efficacy in adults 65 years and older.

The updated 76 percent efficacy rate contrasts with rates of about 95 percent for vaccines developed by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, which not only require more careful storage and handling but are also more expensive.

The AstraZeneca vaccine is cheaper and easier to handle and has been given to millions of people in the United Kingdom.

More than 70 countries have already granted the drug conditional marketing or emergency use authorization, and it is the mainstay of the World Health Organization’s COVAX facility, which aims to get required vaccines to the less wealthy parts of the world.

The remarkable rebuke from US health authorities had marked a fresh setback for the vaccine after more than a dozen countries, primarily in the European Union which temporarily suspended it after a tiny blood clot cases arose.

Although EU’s drug regulator said last week the vaccine was clearly safe and the benefits surpass the risks.

-NATION