Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine ineffective against mild to moderate COVID-19 from South African variant

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2021-03-17 08:00

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The Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine is ineffective against the South African variant of the virus, according to South African scientists. They tested the vaccine in around 2,000 people, roughly half of whom received the two-dose jab while the rest were given a placebo. Nineteen out of 750 vaccine recipients caught mild to moderate COVID-19 following the jabs, while 23 of 717 placebo recipients caught it, suggesting an efficacy of 21.9 per cent, the researchers say. But not all of those people had the South African variant, and when this group of patients was analysed alone, the vaccine's efficacy was even lower - just 10.4 per cent, they say.