Our vaccine is effective against severe cases of corona infection

AstraZeneca has said that its Corona virus vaccine is effective against severe cases of infection with the virus.

The company’s announcement comes a day after Edward Argar, the UK Minister of State for Health, said there was no evidence the AstraZeneca vaccine did not prevent coronavirus death or disease. severe symptoms resulting from infection with it, and South Africa has only temporarily discontinued its use.

South Africa has decided to suspend the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine in the vaccination program, after data showed that it offered only limited protection against infection with mild to moderate degree of disease caused by the mutated strain of Corona virus spread across the country.

Argar said in a press release: “There is no evidence that this vaccine is not effective in preventing hospitalization, severe symptoms and death, which we are looking for today mainly from these. vaccines. “

“The strains prevalent in this country are not the South African strain,” he added. “There are a small number of infected cases. The two dominant strains here are: the ones we know and then the Kent strain, and this vaccine. Is very effective in preventing them.”

A study by the University of Oxford, which is the entity that worked with AstraZeneca in the development of the emerging vaccine against the Corona virus, had indicated that the vaccine is effective against the new strain of the virus which recently appeared in the United Kingdom , just because it is effective against the original emerging corona virus.

And the Bloomberg News Agency, citing the University of Oxford study, said the protection against infection by symptoms of the new strain of Corona virus is similar to the protection provided by the vaccine against the original emerging corona virus.

The agency said that during the study swabs taken from volunteers from October to mid-January were analyzed. These results were revealed in a draft version of the study that has not yet been peer reviewed.

These findings should alleviate concerns about the effectiveness of existing vaccines against this specific mutated form of the virus, which health officials say may be more contagious than the original coronavirus.