Early Data Show AstraZeneca COVID-19 Vaccine Is Effective Against UK Variant

Developed in the United Kingdom, the COVID-19 vaccine from AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford has shown 74.6% effectiveness against the new, more contagious UK-based variant, B117, of SARS-CoV-2. The research results were published online in The Lancet, but the paper is still undergoing peer review. While public health officials around the globe are concerned about vaccines’ abilities to fight off the new variants emerging in places like the UK and South Africa, the AstraZeneca vaccine prevented severe illness or death in all clinical trial participants. This vaccine is not yet available in the United States as the Food and Drug Administration is awaiting results of a US-based, 30,000-subject clinical trial. The data from this study are expected in March. Click here to read more.