LONDON: The Covid-19 vaccine developed by British drug group AstraZeneca and Oxford University has achieved a “winning formula” for effectiveness, the company’s chief executive said on Sunday.
In an interview with the Sunday Times, the company’s CEO Pascal Soriot said the vaccine “should be” effective against the new highly transmissible variant of the deadly virus, which has put England completely shut down.
The Oxford vaccine, which also has a link to India’s Serum Institute, is expected to get approval in the UK by Thursday, streamlining the supply of the sting to the most vulnerable groups.
Read our live coronavirus blog for the latest news and updates
Soriot claimed the vaccine provides “100% protection” against serious Covid disease that requires hospitalization.
He added that he believes the trials will show that his company has achieved vaccine efficacy equal to 95% Pfizer-BioNTech and 94.5% Moderna.
“We believe we have figured out the winning formula and how to get an effectiveness that, after two doses, is there with everyone else,” the chief executive said, adding that the data would only be published “at some point.” .
The UK government announced on 23 December that the developers of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine had submitted their data to the Medicines and Health Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).
Approval is expected to be granted on Monday to launch the jab, the Sunday Telegraph reported.
The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was the first shot against the coronavirus authorized for use by the UK’s independent drug regulator and has been administered to 600,000 of the country’s most vulnerable people since last month.
Previous trials had shown different results in the effectiveness of AstraZeneca firing. The vaccine initially showed an average effectiveness of 70%, but this level jumped to 90% depending on the dose.
Behind this average figure of large-scale trials conducted in the UK and Brazil was an effectiveness of 62% for those who were vaccinated with two full doses of the shot.
However, for volunteers who received a half dose and then a full dose a month later, the vaccine was found to be 90% effective.
Soriot said he was “surprised” by the initial findings. “We would have preferred a simpler set of results,” he added.
The lack of clarity and transparency about the discrepancy in the results was widely criticized. Soriot said he did not expect the subsequent setback.
“We assumed people would be a little disappointed, of course,” he said. “But we weren’t expecting this storm.”
High hopes have been placed on the shooting of AstraZeneca, originally based on a weakened version of a chimpanzee virus, due to its low cost.
The AstraZeneca vaccine also has a logistical advantage over the Pfizer-BioNTech alternative, as it can be stored, transported and handled under normal refrigeration conditions of between two and eight degrees Celsius (36-46 Fahrenheit) for at least six months.
This is a far cry from the -70C required for the Pfizer / BioNTech offering and could allow the use of the existing refrigerated supply chain to reduce costs.
In a vote of confidence for its own-produced vaccine, the bulk of British requirements are expected to meet it.
The government has ordered 100 million doses, with 40 million doses scheduled for the end of March.
UK officials will expect confidence to be rewarded, especially as the country has been one of the countries hardest hit by the pandemic with more than 70,000 dead.
The rise in cases has reached across the country over the past week, falling especially in the south-east of England and blaming a new strain of the virus that is believed to be most infectious, which was first identified in the UK. United.
According to a British study, the strain is 50% to 74% more contagious.
In an effort to contain the spread of the disease, millions of people across Britain were subjected to tougher blockade restrictions that went into effect on 26 December.
Dozens of countries have also imposed travel restrictions on the UK to stop the spread of the new strain.
Writing in the Mail on Sunday, Finance Minister Rishi Sunak acknowledged that it had been “a tough year for everyone in this country”.
However, he added that “the early launch of the vaccines – and the incredible work of our scientists and NHS – means we can now see light at the end of the tunnel.”
About 200 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine will be made before the end of the year, according to the UK drug manufacturer, and more than 700 million worldwide by the end of March next year.
In an interview with the Sunday Times, the company’s CEO Pascal Soriot said the vaccine “should be” effective against the new highly transmissible variant of the deadly virus, which has put England completely shut down.
The Oxford vaccine, which also has a link to India’s Serum Institute, is expected to get approval in the UK by Thursday, streamlining the supply of the sting to the most vulnerable groups.
Read our live coronavirus blog for the latest news and updates
Soriot claimed the vaccine provides “100% protection” against serious Covid disease that requires hospitalization.
He added that he believes the trials will show that his company has achieved vaccine efficacy equal to 95% Pfizer-BioNTech and 94.5% Moderna.
“We believe we have figured out the winning formula and how to get an effectiveness that, after two doses, is there with everyone else,” the chief executive said, adding that the data would only be published “at some point.” .
The UK government announced on 23 December that the developers of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine had submitted their data to the Medicines and Health Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).
Approval is expected to be granted on Monday to launch the jab, the Sunday Telegraph reported.
The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was the first shot against the coronavirus authorized for use by the UK’s independent drug regulator and has been administered to 600,000 of the country’s most vulnerable people since last month.
Previous trials had shown different results in the effectiveness of AstraZeneca firing. The vaccine initially showed an average effectiveness of 70%, but this level jumped to 90% depending on the dose.
Behind this average figure of large-scale trials conducted in the UK and Brazil was an effectiveness of 62% for those who were vaccinated with two full doses of the shot.
However, for volunteers who received a half dose and then a full dose a month later, the vaccine was found to be 90% effective.
Soriot said he was “surprised” by the initial findings. “We would have preferred a simpler set of results,” he added.
The lack of clarity and transparency about the discrepancy in the results was widely criticized. Soriot said he did not expect the subsequent setback.
“We assumed people would be a little disappointed, of course,” he said. “But we weren’t expecting this storm.”
High hopes have been placed on the shooting of AstraZeneca, originally based on a weakened version of a chimpanzee virus, due to its low cost.
The AstraZeneca vaccine also has a logistical advantage over the Pfizer-BioNTech alternative, as it can be stored, transported and handled under normal refrigeration conditions of between two and eight degrees Celsius (36-46 Fahrenheit) for at least six months.
This is a far cry from the -70C required for the Pfizer / BioNTech offering and could allow the use of the existing refrigerated supply chain to reduce costs.
In a vote of confidence for its own-produced vaccine, the bulk of British requirements are expected to meet it.
The government has ordered 100 million doses, with 40 million doses scheduled for the end of March.
UK officials will expect confidence to be rewarded, especially as the country has been one of the countries hardest hit by the pandemic with more than 70,000 dead.
The rise in cases has reached across the country over the past week, falling especially in the south-east of England and blaming a new strain of the virus that is believed to be most infectious, which was first identified in the UK. United.
According to a British study, the strain is 50% to 74% more contagious.
In an effort to contain the spread of the disease, millions of people across Britain were subjected to tougher blockade restrictions that went into effect on 26 December.
Dozens of countries have also imposed travel restrictions on the UK to stop the spread of the new strain.
Writing in the Mail on Sunday, Finance Minister Rishi Sunak acknowledged that it had been “a tough year for everyone in this country”.
However, he added that “the early launch of the vaccines – and the incredible work of our scientists and NHS – means we can now see light at the end of the tunnel.”
About 200 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine will be made before the end of the year, according to the UK drug manufacturer, and more than 700 million worldwide by the end of March next year.