The Oxford vaccine is effective and safe
The vaccine against symptomatic covid-19 developed by the English University of
Oxford with the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca has acceptable levels of
safety and is effective, according to preliminary results of Phase 3 of clinical trials
published this Tuesday in the journal “The Lancet “.
The Oxford experts today published, for the first time, the conclusions of their clinical tests, which
showed an absence of hospitalizations or “severe illness” in the individuals of the vaccinated group.
These results on the clinical efficacy of the drug (AZD1222) -reviewed by other independent experts come from the analysis of a
pre-specific group of Phase 3 carried out in the United Kingdom and
Brazil with 11,636 subjects, to which is added “safety data “out of a total of 23,745 individuals tested in
four tests carried out in the United Kingdom, Brazil, and South Africa.
The Oxford team, led by Andrew Pollard and Sarah Gilbert, found that their vaccine, administered in
two doses (preparatory and booster), is effective in an average of 70%, although the variation in the
amount of each dose affects the result.
Thus, when half a dose is administered followed by a full dose, the efficacy level of the vaccine rises
to 90% and falls to 62% when volunteers receive two full doses of the preparation.