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LONDON, Feb 5 (Reuters) - AstraZeneca and Oxford
University's COVID-19 vaccine has similar efficacy against the
British coronavirus variant as it does to the previously
circulating variants, the university said on Friday.
The variant, first identified in Kent, southern England, is
more easily transmissible, prompting many countries to restrict
travel to Britain. It also led to a spike in infections that
forced a new national lockdown in England last month.
That lockdown came as Britain started rolling out the
AstraZeneca vaccine. Over 10 million people have received a
first dose of either AstraZeneca or Pfizer's shot.
Britain had said that it believed the vaccines were
effective against variants that are circulating in the UK.
"Data from our trials of the ChAdOx1 vaccine in the United
Kingdom indicate that the vaccine not only protects against the
original pandemic virus, but also protects against the novel
variant, B.1.1.7, which caused the surge in disease from the end
of 2020 across the UK," said Andrew Pollard, Chief Investigator
on the Oxford vaccine trial.
Sarah Gilbert, co-developer of the vaccine, said that,
although the vaccine had efficacy against the UK variant, it
might need to be adapted for a future variant.
"We are working with AstraZeneca to optimise the pipeline
required for a strain change should one become necessary,"
Gilbert said.
The findings, released in a preprint paper and not
peer-reviewed, also detailed recent analysis showing that
vaccination with the shot results in a reduction in the duration
of shedding and viral load, which may translate into a reduced
transmission of the disease, Oxford University said.
(Reporting by Alistair Smout; editing by Michael Holden and
Kate Holton)
