‘Use of AZ jab in older people may have limited admissions’

THE UK’s mass use of the Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine among older people might be one of the reasons the nation is not seeing as many hospital admissions as other European countries, the boss of the pharmaceutical giant suggested.

Pascal Soriot, chief executive of AstraZeneca, said the UK had a big peak of infections but “not so many hospitalisations relative to Europe”.

It comes as the chief investigator behind the vaccine said Covid-19 is “no longer a disease of the vaccinated”.

Prof Sir Andrew Pollard said the “ongoing horror” of patients fighting for their breath on hospital wards was now “largely restricted to unvaccinated people”.

Mr Soriot said that both the antibody response and the T-cell response were important factors in the body’s immune response to a virus.

In an interview with BBC Radio, he said: “The antibody response is what drives the immediate reaction or defence of the body when you’re attacked by the virus and the T-cell response takes a little longer to come in but it’s actually more durable, it lasts longer and the body remembers that longer.

“Everybody’s focused on antibodies, but antibodies, you see them decline over time.

“What remains, and is very important, is this T-cell response, and as soon as the virus attacks you, they wake up and they come to the rescue and they defend you. But it takes them a little while, so you may be infected but then they come to the rescue and you don’t get hospitalised.

“And it’s really interesting when you look at the UK, there was a big peak of infections, but not so many hospitalisations relative to Europe.

“In the UK, this vaccine was used to vaccinate older people. Whereas in Europe initially people thought the vaccine doesn’t work in older (people)...”

He added: “T-cells do matter and in particular as it relates to the durability of the response, especially in older people.

“And this vaccine has been shown to stimulate T-cells to a higher degree in older people.

“And so, you know, we haven’t seen many hospitalisations in the UK – a lot of infections for sure – but what matters is are you severely ill or not, are you hospitalised or not?”

Asked whether that is because of the AstraZeneca vaccine being used among older people, he added: “There’s no proof, but we need more data to analyse this and get the answer.”