3rd vaccine on track for distribution
Another vaccine: AstraZeneca is the third company to announce very positive results from late- stage trials.
Pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca said Monday that latestage trials showed its coronavirus vaccine was up to 90% effective, giving public health officials hope they may soon have access to a vaccine that is cheaper and easier to distribute than some of its rivals.
The results are based on interim analysis of trials in the U. K. and Brazil of a vaccine developed by Oxford University and manufactured by AstraZeneca. No hospitalizations or severe cases of COVID19 were reported in those receiving the vaccine.
AstraZeneca is the third major drug company to report latestage results for a potential COVID19 vaccine as the world anxiously waits for scientific breakthroughs that will bring an end to a pandemic that has wrought economic devastation and resulted in about 1.4 million confirmed deaths.
Pfizer and Moderna last week reported their vaccines were almost 95% effective. But unlike the others, the AstraZeneca vaccine doesn’t have to be stored at freezer temperatures, making it easier to distribute, especially in developing countries.
The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine is also cheaper. AstraZeneca, which has pledged it won’t make a profit on the vaccine during the pandemic, has reached agreements with governments and international health organizations that put its cost at about $ 2.50 a dose. Pfizer’s vaccine costs about $ 20 a dose, while Moderna’s is $ 15 to $ 25, based on agreements the companies have struck to supply their vaccines to the U. S. government.
All three vaccines must be approved by regulators before they can be widely distributed.
AstraZeneca said it will immediately apply for early approval of the vaccine where possible, and it will seek an emergency use listing from the World Health Organization so it can make the vaccine available in lowincome countries.