The AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine, in a preprint of ongoing work, showed that its effectiveness against the new strains of the virus first found in the United Kingdom is similar to its efficacy against previously known variants, the University of Oxford said on Friday
LONDON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 05th February, 2021) The AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine, in a preprint of ongoing work, showed that its effectiveness against the new strains of the virus first found in the United Kingdom is similar to its efficacy against previously known variants, the University of Oxford said on Friday.
"Data from our trials of the ChAdOx1 vaccine in the United Kingdom indicate that the vaccine not only protects against the original pandemic virus, but also protects against the novel variant, B.1.1.7, which caused the surge in disease from the end of 2020 across the UK," Andrew Pollard, a chief investigator on the Oxford vaccine trial, was quoted as saying in the university's press release.
The findings, which were released in a pre-print paper without undergoing the peer review process, also show that the vaccination with the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine results in a reduction in the duration of shedding and viral load, which may translate into a reduced transmission of the disease.
According to the report, the researchers used swabs taken from volunteers with both symptomatic and asymptomatic infection enrolled in a phase II/III vaccine efficacy study to work out which strain of coronavirus they had been infected with after receiving either the vaccine or the control.
The so-called Kent variant identified at the start of December in southeast England has been blamed for the recent spike of coronavirus cases and COVID-19-related deaths across the UK.
The new local strain, which has been considered a "mutation of concern" alongside other variants discovered in South Africa and Brazil, prompted UK health authorities to roll out mass testing in most part of England.
The UK has recorded over 3,8 million COVID-19 and more than 110,000 deaths since the pandemic began, while according to the latest official figures, around 10,5 million people have received the first dose of either the Oxford/AstraZeneca or the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines.
