AstraZeneca/Oxford Covid-19 vaccine is not effective against mutant viruses 

AstraZeneca/Oxford Covid-19 vaccine is not effective against mutant viruses.  China Daily Network, February 7 (Nisina) According to a Reuters report, British drugmaker AstraZeneca said on the 6th that according to early data from a trial, the company had a relationship with the University of Oxford. The co-developed vaccine seems to provide only limited protection against mild symptoms caused by the mutant virus found in South Africa.

According to a report published by the Financial Times earlier in the day, according to research conducted by South Africa’s Kingsoft University and Oxford University, the vaccine’s efficacy is significantly reduced in response to the mutant virus in South Africa.

At present, the mutated viruses that scientists and public health experts are most concerned about are mutated viruses from the United Kingdom, South Africa, and Brazil. They seem to spread faster than other mutated viruses.

An AstraZeneca spokesperson said in response to a report in the Financial Times: “In this small-scale Phase I/II trial, early data showed that the vaccine has a mild effect on the B.1.351 mutant virus found in South Africa. The efficacy of the disease is limited.”.

“However, since the subjects are mainly young and healthy adults, we are still not sure about its therapeutic effect on severe and hospitalized patients.”

The company said that considering the vaccine’s neutralizing antibody activity is comparable to other new coronavirus vaccines, it believes that its vaccine can prevent severe diseases.

According to the British Medical Journal, although the virus has produced thousands of individual changes during the mutation process, only a few are considered important or change the virus in an obvious way.

An AstraZeneca spokesperson said: “Oxford University and AstraZeneca have begun to adjust the vaccine to combat this mutant virus, and will rapidly advance vaccine production through clinical development to achieve delivery in the fall.”

The British “Financial Times” stated that the trial involving more than 2,000 people has not yet been peer reviewed.

On the 5th, the University of Oxford stated that the efficacy of their vaccine against the mutated virus that appeared in the UK was similar to that of the mutated virus previously transmitted.

(source:internet, reference only)

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