AstraZeneca highly effective against COVID-19, says makers

 

The British-Swedish pharmaceuticals company AstraZeneca says its vaccine is highly effective against COVID-19.

The company says its submission is based on new data.

The vaccine has a 76 per cent efficacy rating against symptomatic COVID-19, AstraZeneca said in a statement on Thursday morning; citing further data from its phase III study with around 32,500 test subjects. For people over 65, the efficacy rating is 85 per cent, the company added.

This means that among the older subjects in a vaccinated group; 85 per cent fewer cases of illness occurred than among those in a control group.

Further, AstraZeneca spoke of 100 per cent efficacy against severe or critical illness and hospitalisation. One of the figures issued on Thursday is lower than the one issued on Monday. However, on Monday, the company had said its vaccine was 79 per cent effective against COVID-19.

The drug maker had promised to provide more data after questions were raised by a U.S. health agency earlier in the week. The enquiry centred on the possibility of outdated vaccine trial results.

On Tuesday, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) had said concerns were raised by the Data and Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB) over initial results published by AstraZeneca from its vaccine trials.

AstraZeneca said the new data confirmed vaccine efficacy consistent with the figures announced on Monday, March 22. Also, the drug maker noted that according to the latest data, the vaccine was well-tolerated; adding that no safety concerns related to the vaccine were identified.

The British-Swedish company developed the vaccine called AZD1222 together with Oxford University. It has been used extensively in Britain since January.

Germany and several other countries had suspended vaccinations with the AstraZeneca substance for the time because several cases of cerebral blood clots were reported in relation to vaccination with the substance.

However, the vaccine is now being used again.