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AstraZeneca vaccine offers little protection against South Africa SARS-CoV-2 variant

By Brian Buntz | March 17, 2021

AstraZeneca-OxfordThe ChAdOx1 COVID-19 vaccine jointly developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford is not effective against the B.1.351 variant first identified in South Africa, according to a recent study published in NEJM.

In a five-month study involving HIV-negative adults, 23 of 717 placebo recipients developed mild-to-moderate COVID-19 while 19 of 750 vaccine recipients did. Based on that data, the vaccine has an efficacy of 22% in protecting against mild-to-moderate disease in South Africa more than 14 days after the second dose. Efficacy against the B.1.351 variant specifically was 10.4%.

Last month, South Africa decided to pause its rollout of the vaccine based on the data points, which hadn’t then been peer-reviewed.

The B.1.351 variant has three mutations in the receptor-binding domain portion of the virus, which enhance transmissibility.

The AstraZeneca remains 75% effective against the B.1.1.7 variant, which was first identified in the U.K., according to recent data.


Filed Under: clinical trials, Drug Discovery, Infectious Disease
Tagged With: AstraZeneca, clinical trials, coronavirus, covid-19, COVID-19 vaccine, COVID-19 vaccine trial, COVID-19 vaccines, Oxford University
 

About The Author

Brian Buntz

As the pharma and biotech editor at WTWH Media, Brian has almost two decades of experience in B2B media, with a focus on healthcare and technology. While he has long maintained a keen interest in AI, more recently Brian has made making data analysis a central focus, and is exploring tools ranging from NLP and clustering to predictive analytics.

Throughout his 18-year tenure, Brian has covered an array of life science topics, including clinical trials, medical devices, and drug discovery and development. Prior to WTWH, he held the title of content director at Informa, where he focused on topics such as connected devices, cybersecurity, AI and Industry 4.0. A dedicated decade at UBM saw Brian providing in-depth coverage of the medical device sector. Engage with Brian on LinkedIn or drop him an email at bbuntz@wtwhmedia.com.

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