Photographer: Gen Shkullaku / AFP / Getty Images
Photographer: Gen Shkullaku / AFP / Getty Images
AstraZeneca Plc’s vaccinated coronavirus vaccine does not offer much protection against mild diseases caused by the variant that has emerged in South Africa asked the country last month to solicit other vaccinations.
According to the study published in the study on Tuesday, the vaccine had an efficacy of only 10% against the variant strain New England Journal of Medicine. There were no cases of serious illness in the group that received two vaccinations of the vaccine, or in the one that received dummy shots.
The study does not answer the larger question the vaccine has: whether it protects patients from serious illness and hospitalization, in part because trial participants were young. The only serious side effect noticed – another important indicator as European countries investigate reports of blood clots – was a high fever after the first dose.
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South Africa has delayed the explosion of the vaccine after preliminary data from the study were released last month. The data released Tuesday was more detailed and its publication in a medical journal indicates that it was peer-reviewed.
The study involved approximately 2,000 participants who had an average age of 30. Older people are usually hit harder by the infection.
The vaccine prevented approximately 22% of all mild to moderate cases of Covid. About 93% of the cases in the trial were caused by the South African variant. Determining the effectiveness level against stress was a secondary objective of the study.