LONDON – A vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford is highly effective against stopping Covid-19 and completely prevents serious illness and hospitalization in all age groups, the company announced on Monday.
AstraZeneca said it will now release its data for analysis by the scientific community in the peer review literature and will request authorization for emergency use from the Food and Drug Administration.
The Phase 3 trial, conducted in the United States, Chile and Peru with 32,000 volunteers, showed that the vaccine was 79 percent effective against the disease and 100 percent effective in preventing serious and fatal cases, the company said in a statement to the press.
More than 50 countries worldwide have approved the AstraZeneca vaccine, developed in partnership with the University of Oxford, including the United Kingdom, which approved it in December and vaccinated half of its adult population.
The results showed an even higher rate of effectiveness than studies conducted at Oxford, the company said.
Download the NBC News app for breaking news and politics
“These results are great news, as they show the vaccine’s remarkable efficacy in a new population and are consistent with the results of tests conducted by Oxford,” said Andrew Pollard, professor of pediatric infection and immunity, and principal investigator at the Oxford Trial of University.
“We can expect a strong impact against Covid-19 at all ages and for people of all different backgrounds, since the spread of the vaccine.”
Although the AstraZeneca vaccine has been shown to be repeatedly safe and effective in testing, it suffers from a reputation problem. Almost a dozen countries restarted the vaccine administration last week after a pause due to fears about serious side effects, such as blood clots.
The European Medicines Agency said last week that the vaccine was safe and now AstraZeneca said it found “no increased risk of thrombosis” among the 21,583 trial participants who received at least one dose.
Some European countries, including Germany and France, had initially approved the vaccine, but recommended against receiving the vaccine by older people, before making it available to people over 65 years of age.
AstraZeneca said on Monday that its effectiveness in people aged 65 and over is 80 percent.
Meanwhile, the United States has been building up a stockpile of some 7 million vaccines – some of which President Joe Biden’s government is shipping to Canada and Mexico.
The United States signed an agreement to receive 300 million doses of the vaccine after its approval.
This is a last-minute story, check back here for updates
