The results of the South African study, which suggests that the Oxford / AstraZeneca vaccine offers reduced protection against the Covid-19 variant first identified there, are in many ways “exactly what we expected”, lead investigator for the Oxford vaccine study , Professor Andrew Pollard said Tuesday.
I think this may be the clue to the future here: that we will see new variants appear and spread across the population – like most viruses that cause colds each winter – but as long as we have enough immunity to prevent serious illness, hospitalization and death, then we will be well into the future in the pandemic, ”Pollard told BBC Radio 4.
Early data released on Sunday suggest that two doses of the Oxford / AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine provided only “minimal protection” against mild and moderate Covid-19 from the variant first identified in South Africa. The full study, which was not released , included about 2,000 volunteers with an average age of 31 years; about half received the vaccine and the other half a placebo.
Pollard said the study in South Africa “absolutely confirms what we know about the biology of the virus, it has to be transmitted between people to survive and it has to mutate to do that and it is already happening in South Africa and it will affect mild illness in people who have been vaccinated. “
“The really important point, however, is that all vaccines – everywhere in the world where they were tested – still prevent serious illness and death,” emphasized Pollard.
He said that “the jury is decided” on whether the world needs new vaccines to combat the variants, but that the developers are preparing them if we do.
South African health officials said on Sunday that they had halted the start of a mass launch of the Oxford / AstraZeneca vaccine to collect data on hospitalization rates and see how effective the vaccine is in preventing serious illnesses in people infected with the southern variant. -African.
Pollard said the South African government “correctly” rethought how it will implant the vaccine, after initially targeting it for health professionals.
He also pointed out that the South Africa study was a small study that looked at young adults who only catch mild infections.
What we anticipate in this scenario is that the virus would still be able to cause very mild infections and that is exactly what we saw in that study, ”said Pollard.
“We are the only people so far who have a study that looks at this variant in a population of young people and tells us about the future of this virus – which will find ways to transmit and cause mild infections, colds and more. in, in the population, ”said Pollard.
“The really important question is about serious infection and we did not study it in South Africa because that was not the purpose of the study,” he added, noting that “we were asking questions specifically about young adults”.
Commenting on the scrutiny that the Oxford / AstraZeneca vaccine received, Pollard said that “it is a little disconcerting to meet in the middle of a political debate … we have made a great effort here at Oxford University to be transparent in everything we do.”