The Lancet has confirmed that the Oxford and Astra vaccine …

The prestigious scientific journal The Lancet published this Tuesday the full study that supports the effectiveness of vaccine against coronavirus developped by AstraZeneca and the British University of Oxford.

The publication of these results, reviewed by a committee of independent scientists, confirms that this vaccine is 70% effective on average when two doses are applied (preparatory and booster), but that reaches 90% when the half dose is given followed by one dose complete a month later, as announced by AstraZeneca on November 23.

Likewise, the Oxford team, led by Andrew Pollard Yes Sarah gilbert, found that the efficacy drops to 62% when volunteers receive two full doses of the preparation.

The experts first published the findings of their clinical trials, which also showed no hospitalization or “serious illness” in individuals in the vaccinated group.

These results on the clinical efficacy of the drug (AZD1222) – reviewed by other independent experts – come from the analysis of a pre-specific Phase 3 group carried out in the United Kingdom and Brazil with 11,636 people, to whom are added “tolerance data” out of a total of 23,745 people tested in four tests developed in the UK, Brazil and South Africa.

“Provisional efficacy results were available and reported for two of the four ongoing trials based on cases occurring within about 4 months, most of which were between 18 and 55 years old,” they detailed in The Lancet.

Among the 23,745 people vaccinated, only three in a median of 3.4 months experienced ‘serious adverse reactions’ this could be attributed to the vaccine, although they have all recovered or are recovering and are still participating in clinical trials, Oxford experts said in a statement.

“In future analyzes, with the inclusion of more data as they become available, we will study differences in key subgroups – such as the elderly -, various ethnicities, doses, when the booster vaccines are administered, and thereby determine what responses the immune systems offer protection against infection or disease, ”he said. Merryn voysey, one of the study’s authors.

Pollard, for his part, stressed that “the effectiveness of our vaccine” has exceeded the thresholds set by health authorities, including those of the European Union (EU), which has not yet given its approval to this. drug.

“We can only control the pandemic if the licensing, manufacturing and distribution of these vaccines can be done on an unprecedented scale and the vaccination process reaches the most vulnerable,” the Oxford scientist said.

In the scientific review, they pointed out that “the efficacy is an important consideration factor, but also the pragmatics of delivery, community acceptance, longevity of the effect, whether a vaccine also reduces infection. and transmission as a disease, efficacy in high risk groups and, of course, safety. “

“It’s hard not to be excited about these findings and the existence of three effective covid-19 vaccines, with 55 more already in clinical trials,” they noted.

And they concluded: “With a range of manufacturers, a significant global investment in production and cooperation in supply and distribution, It seems likely that 2021 will see vaccines available to every country in the world, at least for their priority groups. Maybe around the same time next year, we can celebrate global control of SARS-CoV-2, in person. “

AstraZeneca’s drug is one of the three most advanced vaccines, developed in less than a year since the novel coronavirus emerged in China. The other two vaccines in development are those of the American laboratory Moderna and that of the Pfizer / BioNTech alliance (Germany and United States), with which the United Kingdom began its vaccination campaign on Tuesday.