Daily US Times: Results from the long-awaited US trial of the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid vaccine are out and confirm that the vaccine is both safe and highly effective.
More than 32,000 volunteers took part in the trial, mostly in America, but also in Peru and Chile.
The vaccine was 79% effective against stopping symptomatic Covid-19 disease and 100% effective at preventing people from falling seriously ill by the virus.
And there were no safety issues regarding blood clots, the issue created a lot of concern recently.
That should further reassure some European Union countries that recently paused rollout of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine amid concerns about a possible link.
Some EU countries are already starting to use it again now that Europe’s medicines regulator has completed its review and has also concluded the vaccine is safe and effective.
This new trial data may also prove the vaccine also useful in reassuring people about how well the shot works to protect the elderly against Covid illness.
Several countries initially would not authorise the use of the AstraZeneca Covid vaccine in adults over 65, citing lack of evidence.
Around a fifth of the volunteers in this trial were over 65. The vaccine – given as two doses, four weeks apart – provided as much protection to them as to younger age groups.
Hundreds of thousands of people in the United Kingdom are already receiving the vaccine every day, so these numbers are tiny by comparison.
But the results are vital for the United States and should clear the way for the AstraZeneca vaccine to be approved by regulators there within the next month or two.
Prof Andrew Pollard, lead investigator of the Oxford University trial of the vaccine, said: “‘These results are great news as they show the remarkable efficacy of the vaccine in a new population and are consistent with the results from Oxford-led trials.”
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