Did AstraZeneca Provide Incomplete Data On Efficacy?

AstraZeneca vaccine effectiveness data incomplete? Drugmaker AstraZeneca had yesterday shared data from a large scale trial in the United States, according to which its vaccine is 79 percent effective in preventing symptomatic COVID-19. However, on Tuesday, the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases alleged that the drugmaker may have released an incomplete view of the efficacy of its vaccine.

"The DSMB (Data Safety Monitoring Board) expressed concern that AstraZeneca may have included outdated information from that trial, which may have provided an incomplete view of the efficacy data," the agency said, reported Reuters. The agency further added, "We urge the company to work with the DSMB to review the efficacy data and ensure the most accurate, up-to-date efficacy data be made public as quickly as possible."

Multiple European nations had paused the rollout of the vaccine after reports surfaced that it caused an increased risk of blood clots.

The US trials, in which over 30,000 people took part, further found that the vaccine is 100 percent effective in preventing severe diseases and 80 percent effective when it comes to preventing diseases among the elderly.

The news comes as India and many other nations across the world are battling a stronger second wave of the pandemic. India has been recording more than 40,000 new cases for four consecutive days now. According to World Health Organisation Data, on March 22, Brazil reported 79, 069 fresh cases of COVID-19 disease, while the number stood at 60, 228 for the US. 2,711,071 deaths have been reported globally so far, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the WHO website says.

Earlier in the month of March, Norway had reported that three health-care workers who had received the vaccine were treated for blood clots. Similarly, Austria reported two cases of serious adverse events related to blood clots among recipients of the said vaccine.

Data from the clinical trials conducted by AstraZeneca, which involved as many as 24,000 people, found four incidences of blood clots in people given the vaccine, while eight such cases occurred in the placebo group who didn’t receive the COVID vaccine. Read more on that here. These recent reports have shaken faith in the vaccine in many countries.

During a recent interview, vaccine researcher Professor Gagandeep Kang said that the Indian derivative of the Oxford-Astra-Zeneca vaccine, being offered under the name Covishield, is safe to be administered. However, Kang was also of the view that the second dose or the booster dose of the vaccine should be taken 8 to 12 weeks after the initial shot, instead of the current 28-day gap.