Oxford announces its COVID-19 vaccine is 70% effective

Nov 23 2020, 9:15 pm

Oxford University says its COVID-19 vaccine candidate appears to prevent infection in about 70% of patients, according to early results from its clinical trials released Monday.

Although that’s less effective than Pfizer’s and Moderna’s vaccine candidates, Oxford’s product is much easier to store, transport, and deliver.

The university found their vaccine candidate had different effectiveness depending on its dose schedule: giving a half dose and then a full dose was 90% effective, but giving two full doses was only 62% effective.

The overall 70% figure reflects those differing results.

“These findings show that we have an effective vaccine that will save many lives. Excitingly, we’ve found that one of our dosing regimens may be around 90% effective and if this dosing regimen is used, more people could be vaccinated with planned vaccine supply,” the trial’s chief investigator professor, Andrew Pollard, said in a news release.

In a key win for the distribution logistics, this vaccine candidate only needs to be stored at fridge temperature (-2°C to -8°C), meaning it will be much easier to transport and deliver.

Oxford worked with pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca on this vaccine, and they’re the third set of COVID-19 vaccine-makers to announce preliminary results from their clinical trials. Pfizer’s and Moderna’s vaccine candidates both appear to be more than 90% effective, although they’re harder to store and transport. Both need to be frozen, and Pfizer’s needs to be kept at ultra-low temperatures around -70°C.

Neither Pfizer, Moderna, nor Oxford have released complete clinical trial data, meaning these effectiveness figures have not yet been reviewed by independent experts to verify their accuracy.

 

Megan DevlinMegan Devlin

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