The British pharmaceutical group AstraZeneca claimed to have found, after further investigation, “The winning formula” for his vaccine against COVID-19 developed with Oxford University, on which the British regulator is due to rule in the coming days.
“We believe we have found the winning formula and how to achieve an effectiveness that, with two doses, is as high as the others,” CEO Pascal Soriot told the Sunday Times, adding that his vaccine ensured a “100% protection” against severe forms of COVID-19.
In the provisional results of large-scale clinical trials in the United Kingdom and Brazil, the British laboratory announced in November that its vaccine had an average efficacy of 70% compared to more than 90% of those of Pfizer / BioNTech and Modern.
Behind this average result are large differences between two different protocols: the effectiveness is 90% for volunteers who first received half the dose, then a full dose a month later, but only 62 % for another group vaccinated with two complete doses.
These results were criticized because there was an error in the half-dose injection, although a relatively small group had followed this protocol. Then the company announced that his vaccine required “additional study.”
The Oxford / AstraZeneca vaccine is eagerly awaited because it is relatively inexpensive and does not need to be stored at a temperature as cold as that of Pfizer / BioNTech, for example, which should be kept at -70 degrees.
This facilitates large-scale vaccination and in geriatric homes.
The UK was the first Western country to start injecting doses of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine in early December. It now has this second Oxford / AstraZeneca vaccine to gain momentum and put an end to the increase in cases attributed to its territory by the new coronavirus variant.
Faced with this mutation, “we think for the moment that the vaccine must continue to be effective,” said Pascal Soriot. “But we can’t be sure, so we’ll do some testing.”
He assured that new versions were prepared just in case, hoping that they would not need them: “You have to be prepared.”
The UK government said on Wednesday it had submitted full details of the Oxford / AstraZeneca vaccine to UK regulator MHRA. According to the British press, the latter must be pronounced in the coming days, with the aim of injecting from 4 January.