Now the US says Oxford vaccine is 100 per cent effective on severe Covid
THERE is yet more evidence that the AstraZeneca vaccine is safe and effective, as a large US trial found it provided 100 per cent protection against severe illness from Covid.
And in the wake of alarmist reports from Europe, independent experts have claimed that the vaccine is safe, with no increased risk of blood clots.
In support of the UK rolling out the Oxford/AstraZeneca jab to priority groups, the results also showed the vaccine worked well for older people, as it was 80 per cent effective in preventing symptomatic Covid among those aged 65 and over.
The trial used a sample of 32,449 patients in the US, Peru and Chile.
Scientists found the jab was 79 per cent effective at preventing people of all ages getting Covid with symptoms. And it was 100 per cent effective in stopping severe and critical disease or hospitalisation.
Importantly, after European countries including France and Italy temporarily suspended use of the vaccine over some reported cases of blood clots, an independent data safety monitoring board identified no safety concerns.
It found no increased risk of blood clots among the 21,583 people in the trial who were given at least one dose of the Oxford jab rather than a placebo. And it found no cases of cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST) – the type of brain blood clot that caused concern in Europe.
Blood clots have been rare, according to the European Medicines Agency, which concluded last week that the benefits of the AstraZeneca jab outweigh the risks, that it was not linked to an overall risk of blood clots and only had a possible link with rare cases of clots in the vessels draining blood from the brain.
In around 20million patients in the UK and European economic area who had received the jab up to March 16, there were only seven cases of blood clots in multiple blood vessels and 18 cases of CVST.
Andrew Pollard from Oxford University previously conducted the British trial of the vaccine. He said: ‘These results are great news as they show the remarkable efficacy of the vaccine in a new population and are consistent with the results from Oxford- led trials. We can expect strong impact against Covid19 across all ages and for people of all different backgrounds from widespread use of the vaccine.’
Forthcoming data will determine how well the vaccine works against new strains of coronavirus which have emerged since the jab was developed, such as the South African and Brazilian variants.
But Mene Pangalos, of AstraZeneca, said: ‘It’s very encouraging we’ve got such high efficacy numbers when there are undoubtedly variants of concern in circulation in this study. I think it also highlights why we believe that, against severe disease, our vaccine will be effective against all variants of concern.’
AstraZeneca will now submit data to the Food and Drug Administration ( FDA) which provides emergency approval for use of vaccines in the US.
Ann Falsey, professor of medicine at the University of Rochester in the US, helped lead this American trial. She said: ‘ This analysis validates the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine as a much-needed additional vaccination option, offering confidence that adults of all ages can benefit from protection against the virus.’
‘Effective against all variants’