A vaccine developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca resisted the highly transmissible variant first detected in the UK and had similar protection when compared to other strains, according to new data.
The variant has been the leading cause of coronavirus disease in the UK since mid-December due to its rapid spread, Prof. Andrew Pollard, director of the Oxford Vaccine Group and chief investigator of the Oxford vaccine study, previously told an advisory panel to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The new findings, published before a rigorous peer review in “Preprints with The Lancet” on Thursday, compared the vaccine’s effectiveness among other strains.
“Data from our tests with the ChAdOx1 vaccine in the UK indicate that the vaccine not only protects against the original pandemic virus, but also against the new variant, B.1.1.7, which caused the disease to increase in late 2020 in across the UK, “Pollard said in a statement on Friday.
ASTRAZENECA-OXFORD COVID-19 VACCINE FALL VIRUS TRANSMISSION RATE, SUPPORTS PROTECTION: STUDY
The researchers said the vaccine provided similar protection against symptomatic disease from the B.1.1.7 strain, by about 75%, compared with the effectiveness against previous strains by 84%, although the induced antibodies were nine times lower against the strain B.1.1.7 tension. The findings resulted from more than 1,500 nasal / throat swabs taken from 499 participants in a Phase I / II study between October 1 and January 14.
“The effectiveness of ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 against variant B.1.1.7 of SARS-CoV-2 is similar to the effectiveness of the vaccine against other strains,” says the study. “In addition, vaccination with ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 results in a reduction in the duration of elimination and viral load, which can translate into a material impact on disease transmission.”
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UK scientists have estimated that B.1.1.7. The coronavirus strain can spread 50% to 70% more easily from person to person, and there is some data to suggest that the variant is more deadly.
The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine has already been approved for use in the UK, and more than 10 million doses of vaccines developed by AstraZeneca and Pfizer-BioNTech have been administered across the UK, according to separate data released Friday.
The UK drug regulator also announced on Friday that additional monitoring of coronavirus vaccines has reaffirmed its safety and effectiveness. The Medicines and Health Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said there was a suspected side-effect rate of 3 per 1,000 doses administered from December 9 to January 24.
“These reassuring data showed that the vast majority of reported side effects are mild and all are in line with most types of vaccine, including the seasonal flu vaccine,” the MHRA said in a statement.
The news follows other recent preliminary findings that the AstraZeneca-Oxford coronavirus vaccine not only reduced virus transmission by two-thirds, but also improved hospitalization rates and prevented serious illnesses. The researchers also found that spacing the two doses actually increased protection against the virus.