Large trial suggests AstraZeneca COVID-19 jab is safe and effective

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2021-09-30 07:00

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A 'gold standard' clinical trial of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 jab in 32,451 participants from the US, Chile, and Peru found the vaccine is safe and effective in adults, including older adults. In terms of preventing people from catching COVID-19, the vaccine was estimated to be 64.3 per cent effective. Across all participants, the estimated vaccine efficacy in terms of preventing symptomatic and severe disease was 74 per cent, while it was 83.5 per cent in adults over the age of 65. In the fully vaccinated group, no severe or critical symptomatic COVID-19 cases occurred among the 17,662 participants, while eight cases occurred among the 8,550 participants in the placebo group, who did not receive the vaccine. The scientists say SARS-CoV-2 spike protein antibodies increased in vaccinated people after the first dose, and increased further when measured 28 days after the second dose.