(London) The anti-COVID-19 vaccine from AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford reduces the transmission of the virus by 67% from the first dose, according to an analysis of clinical trials under review which supports the vaccine strategy of the British government.
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This Oxford study, which has yet to be peer reviewed before publication, indicates that not only are vaccinated people protected from the disease but are less able to pass it on to others.
Project leader Andrew Pollard told the BBC on Wednesday that this vaccine could have a “huge impact” in terms of transmission while specifying that these tests had been carried out before the appearance of the variants, or “this virus is trying to any cost to find ways to continue to be transmitted ”.
Against infections, the study shows an efficacy of 76% after a first dose, which is maintained for three months. Efficacy climbs to 82% after a second dose injected three months later.
These elements support the government’s strategy which, to vaccinate more widely, had decided to postpone the second dose for up to twelve weeks in order to reach as many people as possible. Two vaccines are currently in use in the country, that of AstraZeneca / Oxford and that of Pfizer / BioNTech, which will be joined in the spring by that of Moderna.
“This categorically supports the strategy we are undertaking,” Health Minister Matt Hancock said on the BBC. “It shows the world that the Oxford vaccine is working well.”
The strategy of the British government, which approved vaccines in December and decided to postpone the injection of the second dose, has been criticized, in particular by France. Unlike the UK, France and Germany do not recommend the AstraZeneca vaccine over the age of 65, although the European agency has approved it for all adults.
The French Secretary of State for European Affairs Clément Beaune believes that the British “are taking part in this vaccination campaign […] a lot of risk ”.
Before its approval by the EU, President Emmanuel Macron had expressed doubts about the AstraZeneca vaccine: “Today it is believed to be virtually ineffective for those over 65”.
The British government, which administered a first dose to nearly 10 million people, is counting on vaccination to allow an exit from the strict confinement in force in the United Kingdom, heavily hit by the virus which has killed more than 108,000 people there .
“If these vaccines reduce transmission to the extent indicated, it will mean that the relaxation of social restrictions will be possible sooner than if we had to wait for herd immunity,” commented Dr.r Gillies O’Bryan-Tear, Past President of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine. “It would be the holy grail of global vaccine deployment,” she added.
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