Oxford University released an announcement on the efficacy of its candidate coronavirus vaccine today, saying the findings indicate they have a vaccine “that will save many lives.”
On their official Facebook page on Monday morning, the Oxford University made the following announcement:
“Today marks an important milestone in the fight against COVID-19. Interim data shows the #OxfordVaccine is 70.4% effective, and tests on two different dose regimens show that it could be 90%, moving us one step closer to supplying it at low cost around the world and offering a real global potential to save lives.
“In partnership with AstraZeneca we’re hoping to supply three billion doses of the vaccine and make it available to people around the world by the end of the year. The vaccine can be stored at fridge temp [sic] and deployed quickly using existing infrastructure.
“This safe and effective vaccine is based on decades of in-depth research. With over 23,000 trial volunteers, we’ll present a large safety database for independent revenue.”
The University added their intention to “submit for publication as soon as possible, to make sure #OxfordVaccine data is peer reviewed and available for scrutiny.”
Director of the Oxford Vaccine Group and Chief Investigator of the Oxford Vaccine Trial, Professor Andrew Pollard, said “these findings show that we have an effective vaccine that will save many lives.
“Excitingly, we’ve found that one of our dosing regimens may be around 90% effective and if this dosing regimen is used, more people could be vaccinated with planned vaccine supply.”
According to Professor Sarah Gilbert, Professor of Vaccinology at the University of Oxford, today’s announcement “takes us another step closer to the time when we can use vaccines to bring an end to the devastation caused by SARS-CoV-2.
Over 23,000 participants were included in the phase three trials, in the UK and Brazil.
During the trial, 131 participants developed the coronavirus.
Written by Miya Yamanouchi for the Sarajevo Times