Oxford vaccines limited effectiveness on preventing COVID-19 spread

Study found: Oxford vaccines has limited effectiveness on preventing COVID-19 spread

Oxford vaccines limited effectiveness on preventing COVID-19 spread. According to US media, the vaccine jointly developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals has limited ability to block the spread of the new coronavirus, but it can prevent the onset of COVID-19 pneumonia for most people who have been infected with the virus.

According to a report on the Bloomberg News website on December 9, with the continuous emergence of hopeful vaccine data, an important unresolved question is whether vaccination can slow down the spread of the virus while preventing people from getting sick. The latter is The key factor of economic restart.

Oxford and AstraZeneca were the first vaccine developers to publish data on asymptomatic infection rates among vaccine recipients. The British medical journal “The Lancet” weekly published the results of a peer-reviewed study on the 8th. The results showed that in a large study, the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine reduced the spread of the new coronavirus by roughly 27%.

According to reports, this is far lower than the 70% effective rate of the vaccine in preventing symptomatic cases of COVID-19 pneumonia, and even these results are questioned because of its effect on elderly vaccinators.

According to reports, researchers tested the COVID-19 pneumonia infections of more than 6,000 study participants in the UK every week and found 29 asymptomatic infections in the vaccination group, while 40 asymptomatic infections in the control group of roughly the same number.

A small number of people received a half-dose injection first, followed by a full-dose second injection. This vaccination method is more effective in dealing with asymptomatic transmission, 59%. The data supports the initial findings of the University of Oxford that the first low-dose and then full-dose regimen seems to trigger a stronger immune response and can prevent 90% of infections; while two full-dose injections are only effective in asymptomatic transmission 4%.

Experts say that although vaccines that prevent the spread of disease rather than the virus can be widely used and help reduce the number of deaths from COVID-19 pneumonia, they may lead to complacency. People who have been vaccinated can still spread the virus to other more vulnerable groups, including those who have not been vaccinated or cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons.

According to the report, Oxford University professor Andrew Pollard, who was in charge of the study, called the data “extremely attractive”, but it is too early to draw firm conclusions. He said that researchers are trying to analyze the amount of virus in the swab to determine whether vaccination has reduced the viral load, which will help curb the infection.

He said in an interview: “The ideal vaccine is a vaccine that can prevent transmission, so that not only those who have been vaccinated can be protected, but also those who cannot or have not been vaccinated.”

The report pointed out that other early COVID-19 vaccines are also facing similar problems, including the vaccine developed by Pfizer and German Biotech. The vaccine has been approved in the UK, and the first round of injections began on the 8th. According to a report by a staff member of the US Food and Drug Administration, this vaccine may not be as effective in preventing asymptomatic cases as preventing disease.

Pfizer CEO Albert Burla said that Pfizer expects to report data on whether its vaccines can prevent the spread of the virus in the first quarter of 2021.

（source:internet)

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