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The vaccine from the British-Swedish manufacturer Astra Zeneca causes confusion - not for the first time.

WELT answers some important questions about the product and the dispute that has flared up over it.

What kind of vaccine is that?

Astra Zeneca developed the vaccine under the code AZD1222 together with scientists from Oxford University.

This is a so-called vector vaccine in which genetically modified viruses that are harmless to humans are used as a kind of ferry to bring genetic material of the pathogen to be controlled - in this case Sars-CoV-2 - into human cells.

This leads the body to believe that there is an infection, to which it reacts by activating certain immune cells and producing antibodies against the pathogen.

The process is still relatively new and was used for the first time in a vaccine against Ebola.

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However, vector vaccines also harbor a special risk: If a person who has been vaccinated has had contact with the vector virus before and has developed immunity to it, this can significantly reduce the effectiveness of the entire vaccine.

This is the most important reason why the AZD1222 researchers chose a chimpanzee adenovirus as the vector virus.

The great advantage of the vector vaccine is its comparatively simple logistics: Unlike the more sensitive mRNA vaccines from Biontech / Pfizer and Moderna, the vaccine from Astra Zeneca can be transported and stored permanently at refrigerator temperatures between two and eight degrees.

Why are there doubts about its effectiveness?

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Communication about the vaccine was basically difficult even before the current entanglements in the case of Astra Zeneca.

Last September, the manufacturer temporarily suspended its ongoing clinical study after a test person in Great Britain became seriously ill.

While this is standard in drug development, the study was resumed shortly after the patient was discharged from hospital.

However, even then, some scientists criticized the sometimes contradicting communication around the incident, especially since the tests had previously been stopped for a short time in July due to the illness of a subject.

The information on the effectiveness of the vaccine also caused confusion later.

The manufacturer and the Oxford experts involved named three figures: 90 percent, 70 percent and 62 percent.

Only later did it become clear: The 90 percent only referred to a relatively small group of around 2700 test persons who received only half the dose instead of the full dose as an initial vaccination.

There were also initially contradicting information as to whether this modified vaccination schedule was a mistake or a deliberate variant compared to the standard procedure.

What about the current reports?

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At the beginning of this week, press reports about the allegedly very low effectiveness of the vaccine in older people caused a real scandal.

Reports that the vaccine is only eight percent effective in people over 65 years of age are "completely wrong," the company said.

"Handelsblatt" and "Bild" newspaper had previously reported on it, with reference to coalition circles in Berlin.

The Federal Ministry of Health was ultimately compelled to clarify: "Current reports about a lower effectiveness of the Astra-Zeneca vaccine cannot be confirmed".

It is possible that "two things were mixed up" in the reports: around eight percent of the test subjects in the Astra Zeneca effectiveness study were between 56 and 69 years old and only three to four percent of the participants were older than 70 years.

"From this, however, an effectiveness of only eight percent in the elderly cannot be derived," said a spokesman for Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn.

How effective is the vaccine actually?

In the course of the emergency approval of the vaccine in Great Britain, the British health authority MHRA evaluated the data available to date from a total of four studies by the manufacturer.

Accordingly, the vaccine has shown an effectiveness of 70.4 percent across all age groups.

A total of 11,636 test subjects took part in the crucial efficacy study, 5807 of whom received the vaccine and 5829 a placebo.

A total of 131 subjects contracted Covid-19 in the course of the study, 30 of them came from the vaccinated group and 101 from the placebo group.

In people with previous illnesses, the vaccine has shown a similar effectiveness, according to the MHRA documentation.

Only for the age group of over 65-year-olds there is so far only little available data.

However, there is nothing to indicate that there is only a lack of protection for them through the vaccination.

In the test group of the oldest subjects, only two vaccinated people were infected with Covid-19, in the control group there were eight in the same period.

However, the database for older people is actually significantly smaller than is the case with the already approved vaccines from Biontech / Pfizer and Moderna.

When will the vaccine come to Germany?

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The competent authority in the EU, the European Medicines Agency (EMA), is currently evaluating the manufacturer's available studies.

The result of the evaluation by the EMA can apparently be expected on Friday.

The EU Commission then has to approve the approval.

Similar to the vaccines from Moderna and Biontech / Pfizer, this involves a so-called conditional marketing authorization.

This is usually granted for one year.

The instrument of emergency approval, which was used in Great Britain for the vaccines against Covid-19 previously approved there, does not exist in this form as an EU-wide instrument.

Why is there a dispute between the manufacturer and the EU?

The EU decided in favor of the Astra Zeneca vaccine at a comparatively early stage: a corresponding contract was signed at the end of August - the negotiators have agreed on the vaccines from Biontech / Pfizer and Moderna, which, unlike the Astra Zeneca product, have already been approved here left significantly more time in Brussels.

The price was likely to have played a major role in the EU decision, because the Astra Zeneca vaccine, with prices of just under two euros per dose, is the cheapest among the vaccines developed according to western standards.

Biontech / Pfizer, for example, are calling for around twelve euros per dose in the EU, and Moderna even just under 20 euros.

The EU has pre-ordered a total of 400 million vaccine doses from Astra Zeneca.

However, the company recently announced that it would initially only be able to deliver significantly fewer cans than originally agreed: by the end of March it should be 31 million instead of the originally planned 80 million cans.

The reason given is production problems in a plant in Belgium.

In Great Britain, however, where the vaccine is also produced on a large scale, the manufacturer can apparently meet the planned requirements so far.

This is causing great displeasure in the EU.

Merkel complains about the failure of the authorities in a secret video channel

In a video link, Merkel is said to have spoken to leading Union politicians about government failures and loss of control.

The Chancellor is quoted as follows: "The thing slipped away from us."

Source: WORLD