AstraZeneca and Oxford said Monday their vaccine was as much as 90% effective in preventing COVID-19, marking the latest candidate to inch closer toward approval. In a press release posted early Monday, the companies said there were no hospitalizations or severe cases of disease in trial participants who received the vaccine.
In the trial, the one-dosing regimen of AZD1222 got promising results when it was split into two jabs dated one month apart. The efficacy went from 90% down to 62% when two full doses were given one month apart.
“An Independent Data Safety Monitoring Board determined that the analysis met its primary endpoint showing protection from COVID-19 occurring 14 days or more after receiving two doses of the vaccine,” the firms said in the press release. “No serious safety events related to the vaccine have been confirmed AZD1222 was well tolerated across both dosing regimens.”
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The companies will now prepare to submit the data for emergency approval so that the vaccine can be used to combat the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. This marks the third such company to do so.
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Here’s a look at the potential coronavirus vaccine candidates inching toward emergency use authorization.
AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford’s AZD1222
- Showed to be 90% effective in preventing COVID-19 disease in large clinical trials
- Given in a two-jab regimen
- Developed using replication-deficient chimpanzee viral vector based on a weakened version of adenovirus that causes infections in chimpanzees and contains the genetic material of the SARS-CoV-2 virus spike protein
- Vaccine can be stored at 36-46 degrees Fahrenheit for at least six months
- Companies project to make up to 3 billion doses of the vaccine in 2021
- Status: Preparing to submit data for emergency use authorization
Pfizer and BioNTech’s BNT162b2
- Showed to be 95% effective in preventing COVID-19 disease in large clinical trials
- Given in a two-jab regimen
- Developed using mRNA technology
- Vaccine must be stored at minus 94 degrees Fahrenheit
- Companies project to make up to 50 million doses in 2020 and up to 1.3 billion doses in 2021.
- Status: Awaiting possible emergency use authorization
- Showed to be 94.5% effective in preventing COVID-19 disease in large clinical trials
- Given in two-jab regimen
- Developed using mRNA technology
- Vaccine can be stored at 28 degrees Fahrenheit for up to one month
- Company projects to make 20 million doses in 2020 and up to 1 billion doses in 2021
- Status: Preparing to submit data for emergency use authorization