Oxford vaccine
AstraZeneca Vaccine almost powerless against South African coronavirus strain: Study
London/Sputnik: The Oxford/AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine only offers limited protection against the South African strain of the coronavirus, a study due to be released on Monday shows.
"A two-dose regimen of [the vaccine] did not show protection against mild-moderate Covid-19 due to [the South African variant]", the study says, as quoted by The Financial Times.
According to the newspaper, the study involved 2,025 participants, with a median age of 31.
Half of them were given placebo, while the other half got at least one dose of the Oxford/AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine. None of the participants died or was hospitalized.
"We do believe our vaccine could protect against severe disease, as neutralising antibody activity is equivalent to that of other Covid-19 vaccines that have demonstrated activity against more severe disease, particularly when the dosing interval is optimised to 8-12 weeks," an AstraZeneca spokesperson said as quoted by The Financial Times, adding that other immune responses, such as T-cells, "may remain intact" against the South African variant.
According to the spokesperson, AstraZeneca has already started adapting its vaccine to the South African strain, so that it is ready for fall deliveries if needed.
Earlier this month, the University of Oxford said that the AstraZeneca vaccine had proven its effectiveness against the UK coronavirus variant.
Support Our Journalism
We cannot do without you.. your contribution supports unbiased journalism
IBNS is not driven by any ism- not wokeism, not racism, not skewed secularism, not hyper right-wing or left liberal ideals, nor by any hardline religious beliefs or hyper nationalism. We want to serve you good old objective news, as they are. We do not judge or preach. We let people decide for themselves. We only try to present factual and well-sourced news.
Support objective journalism for a small contribution.
