It is good news that was leaked in advance on Sunday about the Covid vaccine from the Swedish-British pharmaceutical company Astra Zeneca. Accordingly, it should be 95 percent effective and one hundred percent protect against serious illnesses. At least the latter is confirmed by the company's boss, Pascal Soriot, in an interview in the British “Sunday Times”. And he says, “We believe we've found the winning formula.”
The recipe now works “just as well” with two doses as the other vaccines that have previously been approved. Soriot is also confident that his vaccine will protect against the recently discovered virus mutations. Astra Zeneca, which is developing its vaccine together with Oxford University, needs the good news. First, an important decision is pending: According to the “Sunday Times”, the British health authority should decide today, Monday, whether the vaccine will be approved for the market. The EU-wide will follow in 2021. Second, the company recently had bad press.
At first there were alarming reports about serious side effects, but these were invalidated.
This was followed by criticism of confusing information: At the end of November it was announced that the vaccine had an average effectiveness of 70 percent. It wasn't as good as the competition, but not bad.
Then it became clear: These 70 percent are the sum of two groups of test persons. For the larger, the value was 62 percent, for the smaller 90 percent. The test subjects in the smaller group also accidentally received a half dose first and then a full dose later. The excitement was great. And so they promised further studies.
European hopes rested on Astra Zeneca early on: the EU countries, including Great Britain, signed extensive contracts. With one reason: The vaccine, which (like the Russian vaccine Sputnik V) is based on vector technology, is considered cheaper and, above all, easier to store than the mRNA vaccines, which have to be extremely cooled.
However, the Astra Zeneca enthusiasm also seems to have cooled off slightly. At least with the Austrian Chancellor: Sebastian Kurz said when he was asked about the future role of Astra Zeneca at the press conference on the big vaccination premiere on Sunday: It would be about a “mix”. But in view of the large and already re-ordered quantities that Austria will now receive from Biontech / Pfizer, “I do not believe that Astra Zeneca will become the vaccine for the masses”.
