AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine helps no more than make people seriously ill – it appears to reduce the transmission of the virus and provide protection for three months on just one dose, researchers said in an encouraging twist on Wednesday. the campaign to suppress the outbreak. .
Preliminary findings from the University of Oxford, a co-developer of the vaccine, could justify the British government’s controversial strategy of postponing the second shot to 12 weeks, allowing more people to get a first dose quickly. So far, the recommended time between doses has been four weeks.
The research could also bring scientists closer to an answer to one of the big questions about vaccination: Will the vaccines actually limit the spread of the coronavirus?
It is not clear what the consequences may be for the other two major vaccines used in the West, Pfizer and Moderna.
In the United States, dr. Anthony Fauci, the country’s leading expert in infectious diseases, rejected the idea of deliberately postponing second shots, saying the US would undertake the science and data from the clinical trials. The two doses of the vaccines Pifzer and Moderna are supposed to get three and four weeks apart.
Yet the research appears to be good news in the desperate attempt to stop the spread of the virus, and is also proposing a way to alleviate vaccine shortages and get shots in the arms faster.
The manufacturers of all three vaccines said their shots were 70% to 95% effective in clinical trials to protect people from diseases caused by the virus. But it was unclear whether the vaccines could also suppress the transmission of the virus – that is, whether someone who had been vaccinated could still get the virus without getting sick and spreading it to others.
As a result, experts say that even people who have been vaccinated should continue to wear masks and keep their distance from others.
However, Oxford’s study found that the vaccine not only prevents serious diseases, but that it appears to reduce the transmission of the virus by two-thirds. The study has not yet been peer-reviewed.
Volunteers in the study underwent regular nose swabs. The level of virus-positive swabs – of both those who had COVID-19 symptoms and those who had none – was 67% lower in the vaccinated group.
“This should have a very favorable effect on the transfer,” Oxford lead researcher Sarah Gilbert told a New York Academy of Sciences meeting.
The researchers also looked at how likely people who have been vaccinated get a symptom-free infection. In one subgroup of volunteers, there were 16 asymptomatic infections among the vaccinated and 31 in a non-vaccinated comparison group.
Pfizer and Moderna are also studying the effect of their vaccines on asymptomatic infections.
Only Pfizer and Modern vaccines are used in the United States. Britain uses both AstraZeneca and Pfizer. AstraZeneca has also been approved by the European Union with 27 countries. Pfizer does not endorse the British government’s decision to extend the time between doses.
Mene Pangalos, executive vice president of biopharmaceutical research and development at AstraZeneca, said no patients experienced severe COVID-19 or needed hospitalization three weeks after receiving a first dose, and that efficacy appears to be up to 12 weeks. increased after the initial survey.
“Our data suggest that for the second dose you want to be as close as possible to the twelve weeks,” Pangalos said.
British Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the study “supports the strategy we have taken” to make sure more people have at least one chance. Britain’s decision is considered risky by other European countries.
Stephen Evans of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine said the study’s proposal that a single dose protects people for 12 weeks is “useful but not definitive.”
He said that the authors themselves acknowledge that their research is not designed to examine the dosing schedule of the vaccine, and that their conclusions are based on statistical modeling, and not actual patients followed over time.
“This is certainly not very strong evidence, but there is also no indication that it is the wrong thing to do,” Evans said of Britain’s strategy.
One of the researchers from Oxford, dr. Andrew Pollard, said scientists also believe that the AstraZeneca vaccine will still provide protection against new variants of COVID-19, although they are still waiting for it. Rapidly distributed mutant versions have sounded the alarm worldwide.
‘If we do have to update the vaccines, it’s actually a relatively simple process. “It only takes a matter of months, instead of the huge efforts that everyone went through last year to get the very large-scale trials going,” Pollard told the BBC.
Meanwhile, there is a UN-backed program to deliver COVID-19 vaccines to the most needy people worldwide, right after a difficult start. The COVAX facility on Wednesday announced plans for an initial distribution of about 100 million doses by the end of March and more than 200 million more by the end of June in dozens of countries.
Almost all of the doses expected for the first phase come from AstraZeneca and its partner, the Serum Institute of India. The rollout will depend on the World Health Organization allowing the AstraZeneca survey for emergency use, which is expected to take place this month.
About 190 countries and territories are participating in COVAX, which has seen rich countries catch up on vaccine supplies, sometimes at premium prices.
The global death toll from the pandemic has reached 2.2 million, including about 447,000 in the US, according to Johns Hopkins University.
New cases per day in the US and the number of Americans in hospital with COVID-19 have fallen sharply in recent weeks, but deaths are still at an average high of an average of 3,100 per day. Deaths often remain behind the infection curve because it can take weeks to die due to COVID-19.
As the Super Bowl approaches, Fauci warns people against inviting others to Super Bowl parties, urging viewers to ‘just lay low and cool down’ to prevent Sunday’s big game from becoming a super-distributor. word.
“You do not want to have parties with people you have not had much contact with,” he told the NBC program “Today.” “You just do not know if they are infected.”
__
Associated Press reporters Jill Lawless, Maria Cheng, Jamey Keaten and Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar contributed to this report.
___
Follow all AP pandemic coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic, https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-vaccine and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak