In the days since Oxford University and AstraZeneca unveiled the results of the partnership's Phase 3 Covid-19 vaccine trials, a growing number of questions have emerged. Source: CNN
The stated 70% average efficacy was significantly lower than the 94.5% to 95% reported by the other two leading candidates, Moderna and Pfizer.
Yet this vaccine could still prove to be more valuable for the world than the other two in the coming months.
If the questions over its results are answered and it receives approval, it may lead the way in providing vaccine coverage in poorer countries where it is urgently needed.
The UK government took the first step in that approval process on Friday, announcing that it had formally referred the candidate to the UK's medicines regulator for assessment.
"[T]he Pfizer vaccine is committed to its initial doses going to the EU and the US. And Moderna's supply will be tied up with the US for at least probably the first half of 2021, so in light of that, the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine is really good news for the rest of the world," Andrea Taylor, assistant director of programs at Duke Global Health Innovation Center, told CNN.
AstraZeneca has promised to supply hundreds of millions of doses to low and middle income countries and to deliver the vaccine on a not-for-profit basis to those nations in perpetuity.
The vaccine developed at England's Oxford University is significantly cheaper than the others and, crucially, it would be far easier to transport and distribute in developing countries than its rivals since it does not need to be stored at freezing temperatures.
"I think it's the only vaccine that can be used in those settings at the current time," Azra Ghani, chair in infectious disease epidemiology at Imperial College London, told CNN.
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