LONDON, Nov 23 (Reuters) - The experimental COVID-19 vaccine
developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University would
have a higher efficacy rate if trials were only measuring
whether the shot prevents hospitalisation and severe disease,
Oxford's vaccine chief said on Monday.
Speaking in a briefing, Andrew Pollard, director of the
Oxford Vaccine Group, said it is hard to explain the different
efficacy rates between the AstraZeneca/Oxford shot and the other
vaccines developed by Pfizer and BioNTech and
one by Moderna.
Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna late-stage studies showed
efficacy of more than 90%, while the British shot was on average
70% effective after testing its efficacy for all levels of the
disease from severe to mild.
One reason may be that the companies are measuring for
different things, Pollard said.
There may also be real differences between all the vaccines,
he said.
(Reporting by Kate Kelland, Kate Holton and Guy Faulconbridge;
Writing by Josephine Mason; Editing by Toby Chopra)