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The Covid-19 vaccine from AstraZeneca Plc has shown limited efficacy against mild diseases caused by the variant first identified in South Africa, according to early data in a small phase trial.
The efficacy against severe cases of Covid-19, hospitalization and deaths has not yet been determined, ‘as the subjects were mainly young healthy adults’, a AstraZeneca spokesperson said in a statement.
None of the study participants died or were hospitalized, according to the Financial Times, which first reported on the study’s findings. The study, with a relatively small sample size of more than 2,000 individuals, has not yet been reviewed by a peer and should be published Monday, the newspaper said. Patients in the randomized, double-blind study had a mean age of 31 years.
“We believe that our vaccine can protect against serious diseases, as the neutralization of antibody activity is equivalent to that of other Covid-19 vaccines that have shown activity against serious diseases, especially if the dosing interval is optimized to 8-12 weeks,” said the AstraZeneca spokesman said.
Initial data suggest that other immune responses, such as T cell responses, may remain intact in the South African variant, the spokesperson added.
The variant, first identified in South Africa, appears to be a major threat to the world’s prospects of ending the pandemic as countries implement the initial doses of vaccines. Although vaccine manufacturers have said their shots It seems to maintain efficiency against the British variants develops booster shots against new variants as the virus develops.
The University of Oxford and AstraZeneca have started adapting their vaccine against this variant, the spokesperson said. If necessary, they will progress through clinical development so that they are ready for autumn delivery.
Earlier this week, Astra’s executive vice president for biopharmaceutical research downgraded expectations for how the vaccine would work against the variant.
“We will not be surprised if we are less efficient,” Mene Pangalos said. “It can be expected that there will be less activity.”
(Updates with AstraZeneca statement begin in the second paragraph.)