What AstraZeneca says about the study that showed its vaccine to be less effective against the South African variant

The British Pharmacist AstraZeneca AZN would issue a report tomorrow explaining that its vaccine developed with the University of Oxford appears to offer only limited protection against mild illnesses caused by the South African variant of COVID-19, according to the first data of a test.

The Study of University of South Africa of the Witwatersrand and University of Oxford have shown that the vaccine had significantly reduced efficacy against the South African variant, according to a report by Financial Times.

Among the coronavirus variants that are currently affecting scientists and public health experts are the so-called British, South African and Brazilian variants, which seem to spread faster than others.

“In this small phase I / II trial, the first data showed limited efficacy against a mild disease mainly due to the South African variant B.1.351 ”, said a spokesperson for AstraZeneca in response to the FT report.

However, none of the more than 2,000 trial participants had been hospitalized or died.

“However, we were not able to correctly determine its effect against serious illness and hospitalization because the subjects were mainly young healthy adults, ”said the spokesperson for AstraZeneca.

The company said that he thought his vaccine could protect against serious illnesses, since the activity of the neutralizing 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The trial, which involved 2,026 people, half of whom were in the placebo group, it has not yet been peer reviewed.

While thousands of individual changes have arisen as the virus mutates into new variants, only a small minority are likely to be significant or to significantly modify the virus, as detailed in relation to vaccines British medical journal.

“The University of Oxford and AstraZeneca have started adapt the vaccine against this variant Yes advance rapidly through clinical development so that it is ready for fall delivery if necessary, ”the company spokesperson said.

The South African Minister of Health, Zweli Mkhize, he said on Sunday the government would await advice from scientists on how best to proceed, following the results of the trial.

The government intended to distribute the AstraZeneca vaccine to healthcare workers soon, after receiving 1 million doses produced by the Serum Institute of India on Monday. Instead, it will offer vaccines developed by Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer. in the coming weeks, as experts reflect on how the AstraZeneca vaccine might be distributed.

“The AstraZeneca vaccine will stay with us until scientists give us clear instructions on what to do,” he added.

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