The results of the South African study, which suggests that the Oxford / AstraZeneca vaccine offers little protection against the Covid-19 variant first identified there, are in many ways “exactly what we would have expected”, chief investigator of the vaccine study Oxford Professor Andrew Pollard said on Tuesday.
I think this is probably the indication of the future here: that we will see new variants appear and spread in the population – like most viruses that cause colds every winter – but as long as we have enough immunity to prevent severe disease, hospitalizations and death, then we will be well in the future in the event of a pandemic, “Pollard told BBC Radio 4.
Early data released on Sunday suggests that two doses of the Oxford / AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine provided only “minimal protection” against mild and moderate Covid-19 for the first time identified in South Africa. The full study, which was not launched, included about 2,000 volunteers who were on average 31 years old; about half received the vaccine and half received a placebo.
Pollard said the South African study “absolutely confirms what we know about the biology of the virus, it has to transmit between humans to survive and it has to move to do so and it has already been done in South Africa and that will affect mild disease. in people who have been vaccinated. “
“The really important point is that all vaccines – wherever they are tested in the world – still prevent severe disease and death,” Pollard said.
He said that “the jury has come out” if the world needs new vaccines to counteract the variants, but that the developers are preparing them if we have them.
South African health officials said on Sunday they had halted the mass launch of the Oxford / AstraZeneca vaccine to collect data on hospitalization rates and to see how effective the vaccine is in preventing severe disease in people infected with the South African variant. .
Pollard said the South African government had “rightly” rethought how it would launch the vaccine after initially targeting health workers first.
He also pointed out that the South African study was a small study that looked at young adults who have only mild infections.
What we anticipated in this context is that the virus will still be able to cause very mild infections and that is exactly what we saw in that study, “said Pollard.
“We are the only people so far who have a study that analyzes the variant in a young population and tells us about the future of this virus – that it will find ways to transmit and cause mild infections, colds and so on. still in the population, “Pollard said.
“The really important question is about the severe infection, and I didn’t study that in South Africa, because it wasn’t the purpose of the study,” he added, noting that “I was asking specific questions about young adults.”
Commenting on the ballot received by the Oxford / AstraZeneca vaccine, Pollard said that “it is a bit confusing to be in the middle of the political debate … we have made a huge effort here at Oxford University to be transparent in everything we do. . ”