(Reuters) – British pharmacist AstraZeneca AZN.L He said on Saturday his vaccine developed with Oxford University appeared to offer only limited protection against mild illnesses caused by the South African variant of COVID-19, according to early data from a trial.
The study by the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa and Oxford University showed that the vaccine had significantly reduced its effectiveness against the South African variant, according to a Financial Times report released earlier in the day.
Among the coronavirus variants currently the most worrying for scientists and public health experts are the so-called British, South African and Brazilian variants, which seem to be spreading faster than others.
“In this small phase I / II trial, early data have shown limited efficacy against mild disease mainly due to the South African variant B.1.351,” an AstraZeneca spokesman said in response to the report. FT.
The newspaper said none of the more than 2,000 trial participants had been hospitalized or died.
“However, we have not been able to adequately determine its effect against serious illness and hospitalization, as the subjects were predominantly healthy and young adults,” the AstraZeneca spokesman said.
The company said it believed its vaccine could protect against serious disease, as the neutralizing activity of the antibodies was equivalent to that of other COVID-19 vaccines that have shown protection against serious disease.
The trial, which involved 2,026 people, half of whom formed the placebo group, has not been reviewed in pairs, the FT said.
Although thousands of individual changes have occurred as the virus transforms into new variants, it is likely that only a small minority are important or will change the virus appreciably, according to the British Medical Journal.
“Oxford University and AstraZeneca have begun adapting the vaccine against this variant and will move quickly through clinical development so that it is ready for fall delivery if needed,” the AstraZeneca spokesman said.
On Friday, Oxford said its vaccine has similar efficacy against the British variant of coronavirus as it does with previously circulating variants.
Report by Derek Francis in Bengaluru; Edited by Timothy Heritage, Daniel Wallis and David Gregorio