And AstraZeneca makes three

[Juvenal]

It seems this has likely been overhyped...

( https://www.wired.com/story/the-astr...t-up-to-snuff/ )

So that's disappointing. And the same questions are being raised elsewhere.

Do Oxford/AstraZeneca covid-19 vaccine results stand up to scrutiny?
.

Is there is a “but”?

There is. Because the dosing error violated the trial’s protocol, there are reasons to doubt the overall numbers. The details are mathematically difficult, but boil down to the fact that a much smaller number of people received the half-dose than the full dose, which risks making the sample sizes too small and “underpowering” the trial.

Are there any other concerns?

There have been reports, now confirmed by AstraZeneca, that the people in the half-dose subgroup were younger on average than the participants as a whole, which suggests that the 90 per cent figure may prove too high. Vaccines generally work better in younger people, says Hunter.

So should we disregard this vaccine trial?

“Absolutely not,” says Hunter. Even if the vaccine is really only 62 per cent effective, that is higher than the 50 per cent threshold deemed acceptable by the World Health Organization and the US Food and Drug Administration. If this result had come out three weeks earlier we would have been over the moon, says Hunter. It is just that we have been spoiled by good news from elsewhere, with several other vaccine trials reporting efficacy figures of 90 per cent or more.

I'm gonna pass on this one.

[shunyadragon]

Orange man bad, vaccine bad. Joe and Camala approved this message.

Medical science is good as before during the pandemic that Obama had to deal with.

Actually Trump did not propose his plan until May. Science had already been working on vaccines in many places of the world.

[rogue06]

Interesting

Source: Why Oxford's Covid-19 vaccine could do more for the world than other shots

In the days since Oxford University and AstraZeneca unveiled the results of the partnership's Phase 3 Covid-19 vaccine trials, a growing number of questions have emerged.

The stated 70% average efficacy was significantly lower than the 94.5% to 95% reported by the other two leading candidates, Moderna and Pfizer.

Yet this vaccine could still prove to be more valuable for the world than the other two in the coming months. If the questions over its results are answered and it receives approval, it may lead the way in providing vaccine coverage in poorer countries where it is urgently needed.

The UK government took the first step in that approval process on Friday, announcing that it had formally referred the candidate to the UK's medicines regulator for assessment.

"[T]he Pfizer vaccine is committed to its initial doses going to the EU and the US. And Moderna's supply will be tied up with the US for at least probably the first half of 2021, so in light of that, the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine is really good news for the rest of the world," Andrea Taylor, assistant director of programs at Duke Global Health Innovation Center, told CNN.

AstraZeneca has promised to supply hundreds of millions of doses to low and middle income countries and to deliver the vaccine on a not-for-profit basis to those nations in perpetuity.The vaccine developed at England's Oxford University is significantly cheaper than the others and, crucially, it would be far easier to transport and distribute in developing countries than its rivals since it does not need to be stored at freezing temperatures.

"I think it's the only vaccine that can be used in those settings at the current time," Azra Ghani, chair in infectious disease epidemiology at Imperial College London, told CNN.

The Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine can be kept at refrigerator temperatures of 2 to 8 degrees Celsius (36 to 46 degrees Fahrenheit) for at least six months. Moderna's vaccine has to be stored at -20C (-4F) -- or at refrigerator temperatures for up to 30 days -- and the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine has to be stored at -75C (-103F), and used within five days once refrigerated at higher temperatures.

"Pfizer and Moderna require freezer storage, and that just isn't in place in many settings," Ghani said.

"Cold chain" refrigeration is the standard storage used globally to deliver vaccines from central locations to local health clinics. AstraZeneca's vaccine is so far "the only one that can definitely be delivered to those systems," added Ghani.

The vaccines are based on different technology. AstraZeneca's offering -- like Johnson & Johnson's vaccine and Russia's Sputnik V -- uses an adenovirus to carry genetic fragments of coronavirus into the body.

The Moderna and Pfizer vaccines use pieces of genetic material called messenger RNA (mRNA) to prompt the body to make synthetic pieces of the coronavirus and stimulate an immune response. "This is a relatively new technology and little is known about the stability of mRNA over time," Penny Ward, chair of the Education and Standards Committee of the UK's Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine, told CNN.

She said that as Moderna and Pfizerbuild up information and manufacturing capacity, they may be able to find storage methods at higher temperatures, but the Oxford vaccine "has the potential to be able to be shipped more readily around the globe" using existing supply chains.

It will only be of value, however, if the vaccine's levels of efficacy are maintained while it's distributed in developing countries.

AstraZeneca this week said trials showed that one dosing regimen produced 62% efficacy while the other achieved 90%, giving an average of 70%. This is a good result, comparable to the flu vaccine, but not as high as Pfizer's 95% and Moderna's 94.5%. The 90% figure is based on a sampling of 2,741 participants, which is a relatively small number.

Moncef Slaoui, chief adviser to the US government's Operation Warp Speed, said this week that there were "a number of variables that we need to understand" around the dosage and age differences in the Oxford/AstraZeneca results, after which the ongoing US trial might need to be modified.


Source

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[Juvenal]

tl/dr ... It doesn't require the ultra-cold temperatures of the mRNA vaccines. Still feels sketchy to me.

[Maranatha]

Medical science is good as before during the pandemic that Obama had to deal with.

Actually Trump did not propose his plan until May. Science had already been working on vaccines in many places of the world.

That doesn't help your kamala and Joe.

[shunyadragon]

That doesn't help your kamala and Joe.

Does not need to, neither can Trump claim any responsibility for the vaccines. He did everything he could to spread COVID-19.

[rogue06]

Does not need to, neither can Trump claim any responsibility for the vaccines. He did everything he could to spread COVID-19.

And this folks is what TDS is.

[shunyadragon]

And this folks is what TDS is.

Yes, it means Trump is deranged.

[Juvenal]

That doesn't help your kamala and Joe.

Does not need to, neither can Trump claim any responsibility for the vaccines. He did everything he could to spread COVID-19.

And this folks is what TDS is.

This thread is for discussing AstraZeneca.

Please.

[rogue06]

This thread is for discussing AstraZeneca.

Please.

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