The end of the Coronavirus pandemic might be getting closer and that will be a good news to a lot but what is even good is the fact that giant pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca reported on Monday that its COVID-19 vaccine could be about 90% effective in preventing the disease.
This puts the new vaccine as the third promising breakthrough in the fight against the pandemic which has killed hundreds of thousands of people globally while effective millions others worldwide.
“This vaccine’s efficacy and safety confirm that it will be highly effective against Covid-19 and will have an immediate impact on this public health emergency,” Pascal Soriot, Chief Executive Officer, said in a statement.
Based on the reports gotten from the phase 3 trial of the vaccine developed by the Oxford University, the result proved to be 90% effective when half a dose was administered and then followed by a full dose. Another dosing regimen was conducted when two full doses were administered, the vaccine was about 62% effective according to the researchers and that puts the vaccine in 70% efficacy.
None of those who also volunteered for the vaccine got any severity or hospitalized according to the researchers even though there is still need for more analysis to be made in order to know for how long the protection rendered by the vaccination can last before wearing off.
The scientists who developed the AstraZeneca vaccine developed the vaccination by using a weakened version of a common cold virus and said it could be administered in existing healthcare situations which includes medical clinics and local pharmacies and can be refrigerated under a temperature between 2 to 8 degree Celsius (36 to 46 degrees Fahrenheit) for at least six months, making its distribution easier.
Meanwhile Pfizer reported their preliminary results from late-stage trials which showed that their vaccine candidates were about 95% effective.
These vaccines are very much needed now especially as new cases of coronavirus rise in the United States everyday with a number of states already contemplating a second-wave lockdown as more fatal cases are being reported in the country.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson stated that while this is a good news to take the battle against the coronavirus even further, he also warned that more researches needs to be done before a global distribution of the vaccines.
“Incredibly exciting news the Oxford vaccine has proved so effective in trials,” he said in a tweet. “There are still further safety checks ahead, but these are fantastic results.”
According to the researchers, some 131 COVID-19 cases were detected in over 24,000 volunteers from different racial and geographical backgrounds in a clinical trial done in the United Kingdom, Brazil and South Africa. More trials were said to have been conducted in the United States, Kenya, Russia, Japan and India.
AstraZeneca then made it known that before the end of 2020, it will manufacture in large scale about 200 million doses with 700 million doses ready globally by the end of the first quarter of the year 2021.
The efficacy of the vaccine will then be submitted to regulators across the world according to the Big pharma and those includes regulators from U.K., Europe, Brazil in order to get reviewed as well as getting approval. It also stated that it will seek emergency use authorization from the World Health Organization for an accelerated pathway in order to make the vaccine available in developing countries around the world.
