Pascal Soriot, AstraZeneca’s CEO, is trying to allay fears about its coronavirus vaccine after a study cast doubts on its effectiveness against the South African strain of the virus.
Data released on Sunday from an unreleased study found that two doses of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine provided minimal protection against mild and moderate COVID-19 from B.1.351, the official name of the South African variant.
“Of course, it is a concern,” Soriot said of the results. However, he added that the “protection conferred by the vaccines far outweighs the risk to vaccines from potential new variants.”
In response to the study, South Africa stopped plans to launch an immunization campaign next week with the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine. The study, conducted by the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, examined 2,000 participants with an average age of 31.
The World Health Organization, which has yet to give the vaccine an emergency use authorization, is reviewing the vaccine in light of the South African study. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that, given the size of the study and the generally younger age of the participants, it was important to determine whether the vaccine is still effective against more severe illness from COVID-19.
