A recent article published in The Lancet, Safety and efficacy of the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine (AZD1222) against SARS-CoV-2: an interim analysis of four randomised controlled trials in Brazil, South Africa, and the UK by Merryn Voysel et al on behalf of the Oxford COVID Vaccine Trial Group. VOLUME 397, ISSUE 10269, P99-111, JANUARY 09, 2021 DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(20)32661-1 provides the preliminary safety and efficacy analysis from ongoing blinded, randomised, controlled trials done across the UK, Brazil, and South Africa.
The finding show that the vaccine has efficacy ranging from 62.1% to 90% depending on dosage and or pooling of results but no safety concerns.
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The World Health Organisation have indicated a minimum efficacy of 50% in it's target product profile. Some infectious diseases experts have voiced concerns as to whether the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine will be effective enough to deliver the desired herd immunity in Australia given that the Australian government has purchased 54 million doses of that vaccine as opposed to 10 million of Pfizer's more effective vaccine. It has been suggested that the government look at boosting supplies of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines that have higher efficacy rates.
However, a logistics problem for the vaccine efficacy frontrunners could be a pivotal factor with Australia being in the height of it's summer and average temperatures of between 21-35 degrees Celsius. The Pfizer vaccine needs to be kept extremely cold at minus 70 degrees Celsius and the Moderna vaccine at minus 20 degrees Celsius. The AstraZeneca vaccine can be stored and transported at a normal refrigerator temperature of 2 to 8 degrees Celsius. This could give this vaccine the edge as it can be stored and administered in existing healthcare settings.
Who gets what vaccine has been determined by the government - workers dealing with international arrivals and quarantine, frontline health workers, aged care and disability workers and those living in aged care or with a disability would be first receiving the Pfizer vaccine.
The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) should have enough information to make a decision on whether to approve the AstraZeneca Vaccine for use in Australia by February. The Prime Minister has confirmed that the vaccine would be voluntary.
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