CBC News shows that Health Canada is expected to approve the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine this week, which would make it the third COVID-19 vaccine approved in Canada. In South Africa, authorities have paused rollout of this vaccine after a study found it offers only limited protection against the coronavirus variant first identified there.
The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine provides good protection against the main type of coronavirus circulating in the UK. Trials suggest it protects against severe disease and there is some evidence it might also stop some people spreading the virus.
However, early findings from South Africa suggest the vaccine may need updating to be a better match for some emerging new variants of coronavirus. This could be true for other coronavirus vaccines, also.
Good luck to vaccine companies with inventing even more effective new vaccines.
ReplyDeleteThe AstraZeneca vaccine seems effective. The primary analysis of the Phase III clinical trials from the UK, Brazil and South Africa, published as a preprint in The Lancet confirmed COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca is safe and effective at preventing COVID-19, with no severe cases and no hospitalizations, more than 22 days after the first dose.