COVID-19 vaccines edge closer to reality as third company releases trial results

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – A third drug company is claiming its COVID-19 vaccine is highly effective against the virus and that it’s ready to seek approvals just a week after two other candidates also touted promising results.

“These  findings  show  that  we  have  an  effective  vaccine  that  will  save  many  lives. Excitingly, we’ve found that one of our dosing regimens may be around 90% effective and if this dosing regime is used, more people could be vaccinated with planned vaccine supply,” Professor Andrew Pollard, the chief investigators of the Oxford Vaccine trial, says.

AstraZeneca says its vaccine, developed at Oxford University, is showing at least a 62 per cent efficacy. However, with a small tweak in dosages, it seems to be about 90 per cent effective in preventing COVID-19.

The team found the most effective dosing regimen was to give a half-dose of the vaccine at first, followed by a full dose, one month later. The less effective dosing regimen saw volunteers given two full doses one month apart.

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• Pfizer, BioNTech apply for emergency approval in U.S. for COVID vaccine Friday

• Pfizer to seek COVID-19 vaccine approval after reporting 95% effectiveness

• Moderna says its COVID-19 vaccine candidate shows high efficacy rate

The AstraZeneca-Oxford team is now working to submit its data to agencies around the world for conditional or early approval of its vaccine candidate.

“Positive high-level results from an interim analysis of clinical trials of AZD1222 in the UK and Brazil showed the vaccine was highly effective in preventing COVID-19, the primary endpoint, and no hospitalisations or severe cases of the disease were reported in participants receiving the vaccine,” the company says. “There were a total of 131 COVID-19 cases in the interim analysis.”

Just 30 people given two doses contracted the virus while 101 people given a placebo got ill.

“Furthermore, the vaccine’s simple supply chain and our no-profit pledge and commitment to broad, equitable and timely access means it will be affordable and globally available, supplying hundreds of millions of doses on approval,” AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot adds.

We have been steadily laying the groundwork required for the swift supply of our potential #COVID19 vaccine, should it receive regulatory approval. We pledge to provide broad, timely and equitable access to the vaccine and we are poised to deliver. https://t.co/hQMmYRpCuw pic.twitter.com/rE0MqfcRgm

— AstraZeneca (@AstraZeneca) November 23, 2020

Pfizer and Moderna last week reported preliminary results from late-stage trials show their vaccines provide close to 95 per cent protection against the virus. But AstraZeneca’s vaccine would be cheaper and easier to store, as it doesn’t need to be held in extreme sub-zero temperatures like its competitors’ candidates.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration will meet on Dec. 10 to decide whether to approve Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine, produced in partnership with German BioNTech, for emergency use.

If it is approved, “operation warp speed” could be underway to vaccinate America by Dec. 12.

Both Pfizer and Moderna have also begun “rolling” applications for approval with other agencies around the world, including Canada.