Large clinical trial results in the United States and South America have revealed that the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, or AZD1222, is well-tolerated, and it shields from symptomatic COVID-19 injection which includes a severe disease or hospital confinement.
A SciTechDaily report said the independent Data Safety or DSMB, which oversees the trial, did not identify any safety concerns associated with the vaccine.
AstraZeneca, a United Kingdom-based global pharmaceutical firm, developed the COVID-19 vaccine and led the large-scale trial as a regulatory sponsor.
More so, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease or NIAID, part of the US Department of Health and Human Services' Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and response's National Institutes of Health, and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority or BARDA, provided financial backing for the trial through the federal COVID-19 response.
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Efficacy of the Vaccine
The trial for the placebo-control group started in August 2020. The investigation is based on results from over 32,000 adult volunteer participants signed up across 88 sites located in the United States, Peru, and Chile.
One of the participants was provided with a placebo for every two volunteers who were given AZD1222, resulting in roughly 20,000 people getting the investigational vaccine.
As the said science report specified, The said vaccine was administered "as two doses of 5 x1010 viral particles" with a four-week interval.
As a result, AZD1222 revealed a statistically substantial vaccine efficacy of 78.9 percent in averting symptomatic COVID-19 and 100-percent effectiveness in the prevention of severe or critical disease and hospital confinement.
In volunteers aged more than 65 years old, comprising 20 percent of the trial population, the efficacy of the vaccine from symptomatic COVID-19 was 79.9 percent.
In addition to this, the DSMB also conducted an investigation of blood clot occurrences and cerebral venous sinus thrombosis or CVST among volunteers and identified no increased risk of such conditions among participants who have been vaccinated.
Symptomatic COVID-19 Defined
Symptomatic COVID-19 was defined in this current trial as having SARS-CoV-2 infection, and at least one respiratory symptom like pneumonia, or shortness of breath or low oxygen necessitating supplemental, or at least two of the symptoms that include fever, muscle pain, new or worsening cough, fatigue, diarrhea and, or vomiting, and loss of smell, and, or tasted.
Meanwhile, severe or critical case of COVID-19 was defined as having SARS-CoV-2 infection and either clinical indications of severe systemic illness, respiratory failure, evidence of shock, significant acute renal, intensive care unit admission, or death, among others.
Essentially, AZD1222 was developed by Oxford University's Jenner Institute and Oxford Vaccine Group and then licensed to AstraZeneca for further development.
This product is a viral-vector-based vaccine, utilizing a safe, non-duplicating chimpanzee adenovirus to deliver the genetic code of a protein that exists on the surface of SARS-CoV-2, identified as spike protein, to human cells for the cells to produce the protein.
Furthermore, adenoviruses can result in the common cold among humans, although the virus has been modified to reproduce and cause disease.
This technology is grounded on a vaccine Oxford was developing in the past for Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus or MERS-CoV.
The AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine can be stored, transported, and handled at normal refrigeration temperatures, specifically at 36 to 46-degrees Fahrenheit, for at least six months.
A related report is shown on CNBC Television's YouTube video below:
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