The AstraZeneca vaccine has been under attack ever since the results of its phase three trials were announced in December. When the results of US trials were released this week showing 79 per cent efficacy against symptomatic disease and 100 per cent protection from serious cases of Covid 19 – and failing to show up any serious side-effects – it seemed to help bolster its reputation.
Yet some of that was undone by subsequent accusations by the US Data and Safety Monitoring Board that AstraZeneca may have included out of date data in its trial results. The company has been asked to come back and present new calculations, using data gathered from its study up until March, rather than data up until February.
The South African trial looks worrying
Now another dark cloud has appeared over the AstraZeneca vaccine: a study appearing to show that it has limited efficacy against the South African variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, also known as B1315.
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The study, by the South African Medical Research Council Vaccines and Infectious Diseases Analytics Research Unit and published in the New England Journal of Medicine, administered either the AstraZeneca vaccine or a placebo to South Africans.
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