London: The frontrunners in the race to develop a coronavirus vaccine continue to show positive results.
After Pfizer and Moderna reported extremely encouraging data from final-stage trials of their COVID-19 vaccine candidates, there was good news from the Oxford-AstraZeneca front too.
AstraZeneca said on Monday its vaccine could be around 90% effective without any serious side effect, reported The Indian Express.
Data from late-stage trials in Britain and Brazil of the Oxford University-developed vaccine showed that it was 90% effective in preventing COVID-19 when administered as a half dose, followed by a full dose one month apart.
Results from a different dose regimen — two full doses administered at least a month apart — showed 62% efficacy. The combined analysis resulted in an average efficacy of 70%, which is also significant.
“This vaccine’s efficacy and safety confirm that it will be highly effective against COVID-19 and will have an immediate impact on this public health emergency,” AstraZeneca chief executive Pascal Soriot said in a statement.
US-based Moderna said last week that its vaccine proved to be 94.5% effective based on early data analysis, while Pfizer and BioNTech informed that their candidate showed 95% effectiveness.
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