A Covid-19 vaccine being developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca was proven to be 90 per cent effective in treating infections with no serious side effects, the company said on Monday. AstraZeneca said no hospitalisations or severe cases of the disease were reported in participants receiving the vaccine in late-stage large trials in the United Kingdom and Brazil. Efficacy ranged from 62 per cent to 90 per cent depending on the dosage. “These findings show that we have an effective vaccine that will save many lives,” Professor Andrew Pollard, Chief Investigator of the Oxford Vaccine Trial at Oxford said. An independent Data Safety Monitoring Board determined that the analysis met its primary endpoint showing protection from Covid-19 occurring 14 days or more after receiving two doses of the vaccine. “No serious safety events related to the vaccine have been confirmed,” the company said in a press statement, adding that the vaccine was “well tolerated” across both dosing regimens. AstraZeneca will now immediately prepare regulatory submission of the data to authorities around the world that have a framework in place for conditional or early approval. The Company will seek an Emergency Use Listing from the World Health Organization for an accelerated pathway to vaccine availability in low-income countries. Clinical trials are also being conducted in the US, Japan, Russia, South Africa, Kenya and Latin America with planned trials in other European and Asian countries. In total, the company expects to enrol up to 60,000 participants globally. AstraZeneca said it is making rapid progress in manufacturing with a capacity of up to 3 billion doses of the vaccine in 2021 on a rolling basis, pending regulatory approval. The vaccine can be stored, transported and handled at normal refrigerated conditions (2-8 degrees Celsius/ 36-46 degrees Fahrenheit) for at least six months and administered within existing healthcare settings.
