Astra Zeneca: The vaccine is very effective

The vaccine candidate AZD1222, developed by Astra Zeneca and Oxford University, shows high efficacy against the coronavirus.

It shows new tests, the pharmaceutical company writes in a press release.

Can be 90 percent effective

The result comes from a combination of two vaccine methods.

When one of the methods was used, which means that patients receive a smaller dose of vaccine to begin with, the effectiveness was 

.

With the second method, the efficiency was 62 percent, the pharmaceutical company writes.

The combined efficiency was therefore about 

.

No serious side effects

The vaccine must have been tested on 20,000 patients.

None of these should have shown severe disease symptoms or needed hospital care after taking the vaccine, according to Astra Zeneca.

"Fantastic news", tweeted the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Boris Johnson after the news on Monday.

Can deliver 200 million doses before the turn of the year

An article in the BBC describes the news as both a triumph and a disappointment, given the news that Pfizer and Moderna's vaccines have both shown over 90 percent efficacy against the virus.

But according to the BBC, Astra Zeneca's vaccine should be both cheaper and easier to store.

Astra Zeneca estimates to have 700 million doses of vaccine ready globally during the first quarter of 2021 and 200 million doses already before the turn of the year, writes Reuters.