Its effectiveness in some cases reached 90%.

The "AstraZeneca / Oxford" vaccine gives hope to beat "Corona"

The group that showed the vaccine to have a effectiveness of 90% included more than 3000 people.

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The British pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca announced, in a statement yesterday, that the emerging anti-corona virus vaccine (Covid-19), which it developed in cooperation with the University of Oxford, is 70% effective on average, and its effectiveness in some cases has reached 90%, which puts it in the same field. For vaccines «Pfizer / Biontech» and «Moderna».

In detail, the company said in its statement that these are temporary results of clinical trials that were conducted on a large scale in the United Kingdom and Brazil, indicating that it will quickly present these results to the authorities, with the aim of obtaining initial approval.

With an effectiveness rate of 70% at present, this vaccine is less convincing than the Pfizer / Bionic and Moderna vaccines, which are more than 90% effective.

However, it uses more traditional technology than the two competing vaccines, which makes it less expensive and more easy to store, as it does not need to be preserved at a low temperature.

In the details, the effectiveness of the vaccine increases in a first group of people, who received half a dose, then a month later, a full dose to 90%.

The effectiveness drops to 62% in another group that received two doses a month apart.

During a virtual press conference, Andrew Pollard, a professor at the University of Oxford, explained that the group in which the vaccine was shown to have a effectiveness of 90%, included more than 3000 people.

“By giving a smaller first dose, the immune system responds better.

What we do not know is whether it is related to quality or quantity.

There is more work to be done in this regard, ”which could take weeks.

The hypothesis here is that a smaller dose would repeat the immune system's first reaction to the virus.

Professor Peter Openshaw, of Imperial College London, said: "It may seem counterintuitive, to those who think that vaccines are like regular medicines, but the immune system does not work that way."

The British company indicates that it will quickly submit these results to the authorities, with a view to obtaining initial approval.

The group said that it is advancing rapidly in manufacturing the expected three billion doses, which will be available in 2021. For comparison, Pfizer and its partner, Biontech, announced that 1.3 billion doses will be available by the end of 2021. The General Manager of AstraZeneca, Pascal Sorio, explained: "Even if you (Pfizer) and (Moderna) combined our capabilities, there wouldn't be enough vaccines for the world."

He added, "We need the largest number of vaccines possible to stop this epidemic."

He refused that companies "compete".

And the effectiveness of these vaccines, which were developed in record time, gives great hopes around the world, as many countries face a second wave of the virus.

Restrictions and re-closings cast a shadow over economies, with high unemployment and bankruptcies.

The distribution of the first vaccines against "Covid-19" may begin in early December in the United States and the European Union, if they quickly obtain the green light from the relevant health authorities.

The British company considers that its vaccine is "highly effective" to prevent disease, especially since no participants in the trials had any severe types of disease, and no one was taken to the hospital.

The preliminary results relate to trials involving more than 20,000 people, including 131 who had the disease.

In total, the third phase of large-scale clinical trials involves 60,000 people worldwide, and has also been conducted in the United States, Japan, Russia, South Africa, Kenya and Latin America.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the results were "incredibly good news".

Alok Sharma, Minister of State for Commercial Affairs, pointed out that Britain received 100 million doses of the AstraZeneca / Oxford vaccine, in addition to 255 million doses from other laboratories.

In Europe, with the intensification of efforts to produce vaccines, and work to prepare and license other forms of the vaccine, they are being prepared by other laboratories.

Of the 48 vaccines currently being developed in the world, only 11 entered the third and final trial phase before obtaining the approval of the authorities, according to the World Health Organization.

Pending the arrival of the vaccine, restrictions remain the only weapon in the face of the epidemic, which continues to spread unabated in several regions of the world, especially in the United States.

The closure measures took effect in Toronto, the largest Canadian city, yesterday, in an effort to contain the spread of "Covid-19".

In the United States, the authorities intend to start the vaccination campaign in mid-December, hoping to achieve herd immunity by spring.

The epidemic continues to spread in the United States, with 160,000 new infections recorded Sunday, within 24 hours, according to Johns Hopkins University.

The number of injuries in the United States is 12 million, and 257 thousand deaths.

In the world, the epidemic has resulted in the deaths of at least 1,381,915 people, since the office of the World Quota Organization in China reported its appearance in late December, according to an AFP census, the day before yesterday.

There have been more than 58,165,460 infections in the world since the outbreak of the epidemic, of which 37,053,500 are now considered to have recovered.

- British Prime Minister Boris Johnson says the results were "incredibly good news".

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