AstraZeneca vaccine is “very effective” against Delta and Beta variants

The vaccine AstraZeneca It is “very effective“with a dose to prevent severe cases of coronavirus and hospitalizations caused by Delta and Beta variants, the Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical company reported on Friday.

A study conducted in Canada among 69,533 infected with Covid-19, developed between December 2020 and May 2021, indicated that the vaccine has a 82% effectiveness with a single dose, before “hospitalization or death” caused by the Beta variant, first identified in South Africa.

Meanwhile, the clinical trial demonstrated a 87% efficiency with a single inoculation in the event of “hospitalization or death” caused by the Delta variant, and one 90% against Alpha strain coronavirus,

Of the total people who participated in the study conducted by the Canadian Immunization Research Network (IRIN), 40,828 (9.7%) were positive for some people variants considered to be “worrying”, while 28,705 (6.8%) were infected with other strains of the coronavirus.

The review notes that there was not enough time to report the effectiveness of the AstraZeneca vaccine after the second dose, although “other studies have shown an increase in effectiveness.”

“The effectiveness of Vaxzevria (brand name) after one dose against hospitalization or death was similar to that of other vaccines tested in the study,” AstraZeneca said in a statement.

The Anglo-Swedish company’s executive vice president of R&D, Mene Pangalos, stressed that the vaccine offers “a high level of protection” before the “most serious forms” of coronavirus, even after “one dose”.

“It is essential that we continue to protect as many people as possible around the world so that we can anticipate this deadly virus,” he added.

Antibody treatment

AstraZeneca admitted a few days ago that an antibody treatment it has developed does not prevent the coronavirus, since effectiveness in people exposed to the virus has not been proven.

Antibody therapy, called AZD7442, is aimed at preventing and treating the disease. However, it didn’t work.

“The trial did not meet the primary goal of preventing symptomatic cases of Covid-19 after exposure to the virus, ”the company said in a statement.

The experiment was in phase 3 of development, that is, in large-scale clinical trials to measure its safety and effectiveness.

The 1,121 people who participated in the process were adults over the age of 18 who were not vaccinated and who had been exposed to an infected person within the previous eight days.

With information from EFE and AFP

AFG