The Oxford Covid-19 vaccine trial has reported 70% effectiveness, and has a potential bonus benefit over the two previously announced vaccines.
The race to roll out a safe Covid-19 vaccine is happening all around the world, and several promising candidates have now emerged. The first major candidate to announce results was the US-based Pfizer vaccine that reported over 90% effectiveness, followed by the similar US Moderna vaccine reporting around 95% effectiveness.
Now the results are in on the UK-based Oxford vaccine candidate, and the results are promising. The vaccine has been shown to be at least 70% effective, and could be as high as 90% effective depending on the age of the recipient and dosing strategy. Like the previous vaccines, the Oxford vaccine was effective at both preventing Covid-19 and significantly reducing symptoms among those who went on to be infected.
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As an added bonus, it appears that this vaccine may be effective at a much smaller dose than other vaccines, can be stored in a regular fridge, and is cheaper to produce. The trial tried several different dosing regimens, and showed 90% effectiveness if administered first as a half dose and then a second full dose. The US vaccine trials both used two full doses to achieve 90% effectiveness, so this may mean that the Oxford vaccine could stretch further.
The two US candidates are both using a new mRNA vaccine approach in which a strand of RNA enters some of your cells, instructing them to start manufacturing the Covid-19 spike protein. Your immune system sees the foreign protein and reacts as if the cell is infected with the virus, learning to produce antibodies that will fight a real infection if it occurs.
The Oxford vaccine uses a different technology called ChAdOx1 (short for Chimpanzee Adenovirus Oxford One). A common cold virus that normally affects chimpanzees was modified to ensure it would not be able to infect humans and then modified again to carry the spike protein of the virus that causes Covid-19. This then triggers an immune response in much the same way as the US vaccine.
