Backing the AstraZeneca vaccine, Dr Dhiren Gupta, Pediatrician from Sir Gangaram Hospital, said that the result of the trial conducted by the US with the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid vaccine areout and reveal that the vaccine was 79% effective at stopping symptomatic Covid disease and 100% effective at preventing serious illness.
The data revealed that there were no safety issues regarding the blood clots and confirmed that the shot is both highly effective and safe.
The trial was conducted by experts at Columbia University and the University of Rochester in collaboration with AstraZeneca, on more than 32,000 volunteers, mostly from America, and also from Chile and Peru.
Lead investigator of the Oxford University trial of the vaccine, Prof Andrew Pollard said: “‘These results are great news as they show the remarkable efficacy of the vaccine in a new population and are consistent with the results from Oxford-led trials.
Prof Sarah Gilbert, co-designer of the vaccine, said: “In many different countries and across age groups, the vaccine is providing a high level of protection against Covid-19 and we hope this will lead to even more widespread use of the vaccine in the global attempts to bring the pandemic to an end.”
Prof Gilbert said there were always cases of people falling ill after receiving a vaccine, particularly when very large numbers of were receiving a jab, but that did not mean that the vaccine was responsible for the problems. Meanwhile thousands of people a day were now dying across Europe from Covid-19.
She said: “It is really important that we get the chance to protect people as quickly as possible. This vaccine will save lives.”