Doses of Oxford University / AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine are on display from his box at The Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath, West Sussex, Britain January 2, 2021.
Gareth Fuller | Reuters
Drug dealer AstraZeneca is racing to modify its Covid-19 vaccine against new strains of the virus, with the process becoming more critical after a small-scale study found it less effective in defense of the more brutal pressure found in South Africa.
The country said it would suspend the use of the bullet in its immunization program after a study, published on Sunday and not peer-reviewed, found that the vaccine offered “very little protection ”against moderate to severe disease caused by the South African variant.
Researchers from the University of the Witwatersrand and others in South Africa, and the University of Oxford, noted that the study was small, consisting of only about 2,000 volunteers with an average age of 31. Oxford University said “Protection against moderate-to-severe disease, hospitalization or mortality could not be assessed in this study because the target population was at such a low risk.”
Vaccine manufacturers had already begun developing second-generation Covid vaccines aimed at targeting new variants of the virus, and experts say it should not be too difficult to vaccinate the existing vaccine. early changes for mutations, and are subject to change in six weeks.
Sarah Gilbert, a professor of vaccination at Oxford University, who developed the vaccine with AstraZeneca, said on Sunday that “efforts are underway to develop a new generation of vaccines that will allow protection to be redirected to changes emerges as rising jabs, if it turns out it needs to be done. “
“We are working with AstraZeneca to maximize the pipeline required for strain change if needed. This is the only issue facing vaccine developers, and we will continue to continue. a look at how new changes will emerge. for future strain change. “
The variant, formally known as B.1.351 mutation, was first discovered in South Africa in October 2020 and has since gained the upper hand in the country.
A number of cases have been found elsewhere as well, prompting health authorities to crack down on the spread of the shop that has been proven to be more contagious. There were already concerns that this variant could be more stable on coronavirus vaccines developed over the past year.
As he stopped using the AstraZeneca-Oxford University injection, the South African government will offer vaccines made by Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer instead.
At the end of January, Johnson & Johnson reported that his single-dose bullet was 57% effective in one of his clinical trials in South Africa where almost all cases of Covid-19 ( 95%) due to infection with the difference from the B. 1.351 line. For comparison, the vaccine was found to be 72% effective in the US arm of the trial.
Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna have both reported early indications that their vaccines offer protection against known new strains of the virus, those found in South Africa and the UK.
On Friday, Oxford University released details of a unique study that showed its vaccine was effective against a variant of the virus that was first discovered in the south-east of England, and one that has now been become mainstream in the UK
Andrew Pollard, professor of pediatric infection and immunization, and lead investigator of the Oxford vaccine trial, said data from his UK vaccine tests “that the vaccine not only protects against ‘original pandemic virus, but also protects against the changing novel, B.1.1.7, which has caused an increase in disease since late 2020 across the UK. “