AztraZeneca Shot Will Be Effective Against New Coronavirus Strain, Company Claims

By Mary Anne R. (staff@latinpost.com) First Posted: Dec 28, 2020 12:21 AM EST

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson poses for a photograph with a vial of the AstraZeneca/Oxford University COVID-19 candidate vaccine, known as AZD1222, at Wockhardt's pharmaceutical manufacturing facility on November 30, 2020 in Wrexham, Wales. The UK government announced a deal in August with global pharmaceutical and biotechnology company Wockhardt, to increase capacity in a crucial part of the manufacturing process for Covid-19 vaccines. Britain has been Europe's worst-hit country during the pandemic, recording more than 57,000 deaths from some 1.6 million cases. (Photo : Paul Ellis - WPA Pool/Getty Images)

AstraZeneca's shot will be effective against the new variant that has been spreading across UK.

This was the promise of AstraZeneca's chief executive Pascal Soriot on Sunday.

Researchers developing the vaccine believe that they have the formula, which makes it as effective as its rival cadidates, according to Soriot, as reported by Associated Press News report.

Some have raised worries that the AstraZeneca vaccine may not be as good as the one made by Pfizer, which is already being distributed in the UK. and other countries.

Oxford University is developing AstraZeneca vaccine.

Partial results show that the AstraZeneca shot is bout 70 percent effective for preventing illness from the COVID-19 infection.

This is compared to the 95 percent efficacy rate reported by Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech,

"We think we have figured out the winning formula and how to get efficacy that, after two doses, is up there with everybody else. I can't tell you more because we will publish at some point," Soriot was quoted on a report.

Related story: New Study Finds COVID-19 Mutating and Spreading Faster

New COVID-19 Variant

The first variant, which was discovered in the United Kingdom, had 23 undocumented changes.

According to a Business Insider report, the new variant could be about 70 percent more transmissible and already infected about 40,000 people in the UK by midweek.

British health secretary, Matt Hancock, said that the new variant is highly concerning because it is yet more transmissible and it appears to have mutated further than the new variant that was found in the UK.

Other countries have already closed their borders to UK visitors have the new variant continues to spread.

Authorities have since put increasing areas of the country in the strictest level of restrictions.

Nonessential shops have closed, restaurants, and pubs can only operate for takeout operations and no indoor socializing is allowed.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson raised an alarm about the variant days before Christmas.

Boris said there was anew version of the virus that was spreading rapidly and that plans to travel and gather must be cancelled to curb the spread.

UK had recorded another 30,501 positive COVID-19 cases and additional 316 deaths on Sunday.

This makes the country's total death count to 70,752.

Meanwhile, CEO of BioNTech, Ugur Sahin, repeated Soriot claims.

Sahin said that there was a relatively high possibility that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine would work against variants.

The UK government had signed deals for 100 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine.

The vaccine is the largest single order from the government, which has signed deals for 357 million doses of different vaccines.

About 617,000 people in the UK had already received doses of Pfizer's vaccines as of Christmas Eve.

Reports said that the UK government is now looking at vaccines from AstraZeneca and Moderna.

The minister overseeing vaccine deployment, Nadhim Zahawi, said that NHS across the UK in working had to amp up the vaccination program as fast as they can to make sure that everyone on the priority list can get their vaccine easily.

Tags AstraZeneca, COVID-19, strain