Oxford University Covid-19 Vaccine Found To Be 70 Percent Effective

The vaccine being developed by the University of Oxford has been found to be 70 percent effective, a large-scale study has indicated.

Despite not being as effective as those developed by Moderna (95 percent) and Pfizer (90 percent) the UK government has reportedly already pre-ordered 100 million doses - with four million ready to go.

According to reports, the Oxford vaccine is much cheaper and much easier to store than others and, therefore, much easier deliver to those who need it.

More than 20,000 volunteers took part in the study, with around half in the UK and the other half in Brazil.

The research showed that 30 people contracted coronavirus after having two doses of the vaccine while 101 caught the disease after having been given a placebo injection.

PA

And while its effectiveness was found to be around 70 percent, researchers said this rose to 90 when volunteers were initially given half a dose followed by a full one.

Researchers say it's not clear as to why this was the case.

The vaccine must now go through a series of stages before it can be administered to the general public.

This comes just after the US company Moderna revealed that its trial had also been a success.

Dr Stephen Hoge, the president of Moderna, said he 'grinned ear to ear' when the results came in.

Speaking to the BBC, he said: "I don't think any of us really hoped that the vaccine would be 94 percent effective at preventing Covid-19 disease, that was really a stunning realisation."

Health Secretary Matt Hancock also announced that the UK had secured five million doses of the new vaccine and that the 94.5 percent efficacy indicated by its preliminary results was encouraging.

However, the vaccine will not be available until spring.

PA

The UK has also ordered 30 million doses of the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine vaccine, with results from clinical trials indicating it is 90 percent effective.

Speaking about the breakthrough, Dr Albert Bourla, the chairman of Pfizer, said he hoped this would help bring about an end to the suffering being experienced around the world.

He said: "Today is a great day for science and humanity. The first set of results from our Phase 3 Covid-19 vaccine trial provides the initial evidence of our vaccine's ability to prevent Covid-19.

"With today's news, we are a significant step closer to providing people around the world with a much-needed breakthrough to help bring an end to this global health crisis."

The UK government's current ranking of vaccine priority groups reads as follows (though this is subject to change):

1. older adults' resident in a care home and care home workers
2. all those 80 years of age and over and health and social care workers
3. all those 75 years of age and over
4. all those 70 years of age and over
5. all those 65 years of age and over
6. high-risk adults under 65 years of age
7. moderate-risk adults under 65 years of age
8. all those 60 years of age and over
9. all those 55 years of age and over
10. all those 50 years of age and over
11. rest of the population (priority to be determined)

Dominic Smithers

Dominic graduated from the University of Leeds with a degree in French and History. Like you, Dom has often questioned how much use a second language has been. Well, after stints working at the Manchester Evening News, the Accrington Observer and the Macclesfield Express, along with never setting foot in France, he realised the answer is surprisingly little. But I guess, c'est la vie. Contact us at [email protected]

@SmithersDom