US to Determine an Efficacy of AstraZeneca Vaccine, Expecting to Be Licensed in Late-Jan

The U.S. expects a large study and experiment for AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine to determine how effective it is, following a question over uniformity of trial results.  

 

British–Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca and its co-develop partner the University of Oxford has announced the results of a vaccine efficacy trial of 90% effective at preventing illness, however, there were vastly divergent performance as participants who were given the half dose followed by a full dose appeared to provide the most protection or efficacy in the trial – around 90%, meanwhile volunteers who were given two full doses, efficacy was 62%.

 

Despite 62% efficacy is above the benchmark set by regulators to declare a Covid-19 vaccine a success, compared with efficacy of 95% and 94.1% demonstrated in large trials for vaccines from Pfizer Inc and Moderna Inc, respectively.

 

Moncef Slaoui, chief adviser for the Operation Warp Speed vaccine program, said last week the British and Brazilian trials may not be enough to ensure the vaccine receives a U.S. Food and Drug Administration emergency use authorization, but results and potentially a request for U.S. emergency use authorization by AstraZeneca could come in late January, he said.

 

Thailand on November 27, 2020 signed a 6,000 million baht purchase agreement for the purchase of 26 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine with AstraZeneca following the Cabinet’s resolution on November 17, 2020. 

 

The doses would cover 13 million people which expected the vaccine will be available in Thailand in mid-2021.