The Covishield coronavirus vaccine was developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University (File)
New Delhi:
The Oxford coronavirus vaccine “will protect 95% of patients” and is “as effective as the Pfizer and Moderna alternatives,” Pascal Soriot, chief executive of AstraZeneca, told The Sunday Times. scientists had discovered a “winning formula” for achieving efficiency up there with everyone. “
However, AstraZeneca, a British-Swedish pharmaceutical giant, has not yet released data confirming these claims. The intermediate results of the phase III trials published last month showed an efficacy rate of 70% as the average of two dosing regimens. One of these regimens, a half dose followed by a full dose, showed 90% efficacy, while Pfizer data showed 95% and Moderna 94.5%.
Soriot also said the vaccine, which is likely to be phased out this week by the British health regulator, “should be” effective against an aggressive mutant strain of the virus first detected in London and south-east England in September.
The Oxford vaccine, which will be mass-produced in India by the Pune-based Serum Institute, is one of three medicines that the Indian government has considered emergency use authorization. The other two are those developed by Pfizer (which has already been deployed in the UK, US and several European countries) and Covaxin by Bharat Biotech.
Sources told the PTI news agency on Saturday that the DCGI (General Drug Controller of India) was expecting the British drug regulator to remove the Oxford vaccine.
Given that Pfizer has not yet submitted its data and that Bharat Biotech has not yet completed the phase III trials, it is likely, according to sources, that the drug AstraZeneca-Oxford will become the first Covid vaccine to be used in ‘India. It also scores over its rivals in at least two critical counts: ease of storage and cost.
Although the Pfizer vaccine should be stored at less than 70 degrees Celsius and the Modern variant at less than 20 degrees Celsius, the Oxford vaccine can be kept at normal refrigerator temperature (two to eight degrees Celsius). ). The difference could be crucial for a country as big as India.
The Oxford vaccine is also expected to be cheaper than the Pfizer and Moderna options; it is likely to cost $ 2.5 per dose at $ 20 from Pfizer and $ 25 at Moderna. All three require a two-dose regimen.
The government of India has begun preparing for a national deployment of the vaccine to be phased out first. During Monday and Tuesday, four states (Punjab, Gujarat, Assam and Andhra Pradesh) will take part in tests of the vaccination process.
India expects to start vaccination “in any week” of January, said Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan. As of Sunday morning, the country reported 2.79 lakh of active Covid cases. The total number of cases since the pandemic began in December last year is around 1.02 million euros.
With PTI input