The British vaccine developed by AstraZeneca / Oxford is not effective against mild manifestations of the South African version of Covid-19, but it could be effective against severe ones, said Sarah Gilbert, a researcher at Oxford University on Sunday.
According to an AstraZeneca spokesman, quoted by the Financial Times on Friday, a study on a sample of 2,000 people showed that the British vaccine has “limited effectiveness against mild forms of the disease caused by the South African version.”
However, it could be effective against severe forms of the disease, although there is still not enough data on this study, which will be published on Monday, to confirm it definitively.
Given the South African version, the Oxford / AstraZeneca product “may not reduce the total number of cases, but it can still protect against death, hospitalization and the worst forms of the disease,” Gilbert told the BBC on Sunday. development of this vaccine.
However, it may take some time to determine its effectiveness over the new variant, which is becoming more prevalent among older people in the UK, he added.