Covid-19 vaccine developed by British company AstraZeneca is 70% effective / Article / LSM.lv

A clinical trial of Covid-19 vaccine has been completed with good news in the United Kingdom. The vaccine, developed by Oxford University and the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, has been effective in about 70 per cent of cases. Although it is less than 95 percent effective, previously reported by two other vaccine developers, the vaccine, made in the UK, is much cheaper and easier to store.

The third vaccine developer has come up with promising results of extensive clinical research in the competition of Western pharmaceutical companies to develop the most effective, cheapest and safest vaccine.

The vaccine from Oxford University and the Swedish and British pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca has shown a 70 percent effectiveness after ten months of development,

moreover, early studies suggest that selecting the optimal dose of vaccine can increase efficacy by up to ninety percent. The British government emphasized that a thorough examination of the data provided by the developers was still awaited, but that, if successful, the immunization program in the country could start relatively soon.

British Health Minister Matt Henkock explained: “Of course, the Association of Independent Medicines Regulators will have to look at these data, to check their effectiveness and safety. However, we have already ordered 100 million doses and if all these tests are successful, we will be able to use most of the vaccines next year. ”

However, the effectiveness of the British vaccine is not as high as that of the vaccines developed by Pfizer and BionTech, as well as Moderna – they have achieved as much as 95 percent effectiveness in research using brand new technologies.

However, the British vaccine is significantly cheaper and much easier to transport, potentially offering the widest distribution worldwide.

In addition, the vaccine’s developers have previously reported high efficacy among the most vulnerable group, the elderly.

“Two-thirds of the elderly group had some type of reaction, such as tiredness, headache or a low-grade fever, although the fever was more common in younger people – about 86 percent, or almost nine out of ten. We see this in other studies as well – older people even have slightly fewer side effects from the vaccine, ”said Professor Melissa Andrew.

In the United States, meanwhile, the first Pfizer vaccine could be reached by mid-December. This was stated by Moncef Slaui, head of the US federal vaccine development program. This comment came shortly after the US National Medicines Agency approved the use of the vaccine in emergencies before it could be fully collected and analyzed for all studies. At the political level, the possibility of launching a vaccination program has also been discussed by political leaders in several European countries.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, meanwhile, has expressed concern that the world’s most economically developed countries, despite having signed agreements to buy millions of vaccines themselves, have not kept their promises to buy vaccines for the poorest countries. To help the World Health Organization provide testing, treatment and vaccination for all, the G20 has pledged $ 4.5 billion.

CONTEXT:

The European Medicines Agency has started evaluating the first available data on Covid-19 vaccines from clinical trials submitted to the European Medicines Agency. It is not yet possible to conclude on the safety and efficacy of the Covid-19 vaccine, as a number of pieces of evidence have not yet been submitted for evaluation.

The European Commission (EC) announced on 11 November that concluded an agreement with Pfizer and BioNTech for the delivery of nearly 300 million doses of Covid-19 experimental vaccine.

Under the agreement, the EU-27 will be able to buy 200 million doses of vaccine and will be able to buy another 100 million doses. The 27 EU Member States will receive doses according to their population.

The EU has already reached an agreement with AstraZeneca, Sanofi-GSK, Janssen Pharmaceutica and CureVac to purchase their Covid-19 vaccines when they are available and is in talks with Moderna.

The US company “Moderna” announced that according to the initial results of its developed Covid-19 vaccine in clinical trials was 94.5% effective. Meanwhile, US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and German company BioNTech said on Wednesday that, according to the final results of the trials, their jointly developed vaccine against the new coronavirus is 95% efficiency.

–