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– The head of drug manufacturer AstraZeneca, which is developing a coronavirus vaccine widely expected to be approved by UK authorities this week, said on Sunday that researchers believe the shot will be effective against a new variant of the virus that causes a rapid increase in infections in Great Britain. Partial results suggest that the AstraZeneca injection is about 70% effective for preventing disease from coronavirus infection, compared to the 95% efficacy reported by Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech, the AP reports. But CEO Pascal Soriot expressed his confidence in London Sunday times. “We think we came up with the winning formula and how to get efficacy that is present in everyone after two doses,” said Soriot. “I can’t tell you more because we will publish at some point.”
When asked about the vaccine’s efficacy against the new variant of coronavirus spreading in the UK, Soriot said: “So far, we think the vaccine should remain effective. But we’re not sure, so we’re going to test that. BioNTech has expressed the same confidence in the vaccine it developed with Pfizer. AstraZeneca has developed its vaccine, the Phase 3 clinical trials of which are now being reviewed by UK regulators, with Oxford University. The CEO said in the interview that it was “100% protection “against severe COVID-19 cases – cases that require hospitalization, according to the Times of Israel. The UK Government has ordered 100 million doses of AstraZeneca’s vaccine; 40 million of these are on track to be delivered by the end of March. (The company’s vaccine has had doubts.)