UK nod for AstraZeneca vaccine

CNBC ^ | DEC 31 2020 | Reuters

[BeauBo]

British health officials greenlighted the AstraZeneca and Oxford Covid-19 shot on Wednesday but also rebuffed one of their central claims: that a half-dose followed by a standard dose offered more protection against infection...

Munir Pirmohamed, chair of a British advisory group on Covid-19 vaccines, validated those doubts on Wednesday saying the 90% efficacy rate did not hold up under analysis.

Instead, Pirmohamed said a higher success rate may be due to a longer gap between the administration of the first and second shots.

“The low dose/standard dose regimen, although it has been quoted to have an efficacy of 90%, this is confounded by the fact that the interval between the first and second dose was quite long,” Pirmohamed told a news conference.

“And we feel that that result may be related to that interval, rather than the dose itself,” he said.

The UK’s Covid-19 vaccine chair, Wei Shen Lim, said a single dose of Oxford/AstraZeneca’s vaccine was around 70% effective from 21 days until a second dose was given.

Pirmohamed said that leaving the three month gap rather than a one month gap between doses could lift the success rate of the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine to 80%...

Faced with a record surge in infections driven by a highly contagious variant of the virus, Britain is prioritizing getting a first dose of a vaccine to as many people as possible over giving second doses. Delaying the distribution of second shots would help stretch the supply.

[BeauBo]

The USA is expected to approve this vaccine for emergency use in April, and the Johnson & Johnson (Janssen) in February; based on when their Phase III trials complete.

The Astrazeneca/Oxford vaccine is low cost, and can be stored at room temperature. It is planned for widespread use in the Third World, but is starting off with a bang in the UK and Commonwealth Nations - already being administered.

[PGalt]

LOL. Take the jab, Brits.

[PGalt]

LOL. Take the jab, Brits.