• Oxford-AstraZeneca’s results are the ‘first full peer-reviewed efficacy results’ published for a Covid-19 vaccine, the Lancet said. In its initial data, the partners said their vaccine was 90% effective when a half-dose was given before a full-dose booster, and that two full doses showed an efficacy of 62%.

What comes as a positive news for the world, Oxford University and AstraZeneca became the first Covid-19 vaccine makers to publish final-stage clinical trial results in a scientific journal Tuesday, clearing a key hurdle in the global race to develop safe and effective drugs for the novel coronavirus.

The study published in the respected Lancet medical journal confirmed that the Covid-19 vaccine, codenamed ChAdOx1 nCoV-19, works in an average 70% of cases, with efficacy of 62% for those given two full doses, and of 90% in those given a half then a full dose.

The results are the “first full peer-reviewed efficacy results” published for a Covid-19 vaccine, the Lancet said.

“ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 has an acceptable safety profile and has been found to be efficacious against symptomatic COVID-19 in this interim analysis of ongoing clinical trials,” the scientific journal stated in its analysis.

Researchers claim the vaccine protected against disease in 62% of those given two full doses and in 90% of those initially given the half dose. However, independent experts have said the second group was too small — 2,741 people — to judge the possible value of that approach and that more testing is needed.

This news comes during a flurry of positive developments that have raised hopes the roll-out of vaccines can help begin to restrain a pandemic that has killed more than 1.5 million people and stricken societies worldwide.

Britain on Tuesday became the first country in the Western world to start immunisations, using a rival vaccine developed by Pfizer-BioNTech after approving it for general use last week.

Courtesy: Livemint