The British-Swedish pharmaceutical concern AstraZeneca, which is developing a vaccine against covid-19, which the Czechia plans to administer to its citizens, published the latest data on the effectiveness of the vaccine on Monday. It is now in the third phase of testing, almost at the end, when it will be approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) before use. According to the DPA, the average efficiency is 70 percent, depending on the style of administration.
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AstraZeneca reported that in one dosing regimen, half the dose was given and after a month the full dose was given, the effectiveness was 90 percent. Another sample was given twice the entire dose, also one month apart, and the effectiveness was significantly different – it was 62 percent. The company then estimated the average efficiency at 70 percent. According to some scientists, this does not make sense and suggests that the vaccine is likely to be less effective than other manufacturers’ vaccines.
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According to the chairman of the Czech Vaccinological Society, Roman Chlibek, this may not be the case. “Sometimes a combination of different amounts of antigens or different dose intervals can eventually change the whole effectiveness as a result,” he explained the percentage differences to Novinka Chlíbek. That is why, according to him, companies in the studies choose several “research arms” with different administration schemes.
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“Then it is evaluated and the vaccine with the best results is selected. They log in and register a scheme that guarantees the highest efficiency, ie more than 90 percent. It would use the most effective vaccination schedule they register, ”the vaccininologist predicts.
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According to him, it is not possible to explain why the company came out with different efficiencies in various administrations, it is a common phenomenon. “Sometimes they just combine different doses with different intervals and somehow it works out. If this could be modeled, these clinical studies do not have to be done. Not everything is explained by medicine, and this is one of them, “he says.
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Despite the latest data, there may not be any concern that the AstraZenecy vaccine, which the Czech Republic plans to buy for its citizens, would perform significantly worse than vaccines from Pfizer / BioNTech (95 percent) or Moderna (94, 5 percent).
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In addition to AstraZeneca, the Czechia will also buy vaccines from the aforementioned Pfizer or Johnson & Johnson. It is negotiated with other manufacturers.
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