While the first doses have arrived on French soil, the effectiveness of the vaccine developed by the AstraZeneca laboratory continues to be talked about.
After several countries have decided to limit its administration to those under 65, a study to be published on Monday affirms that the product would be less effective against the South African variant, the Financial Times revealed on Saturday.
Specifically, the vaccine would be ineffective against mild and moderate forms of the disease caused by this variant.
The randomized study involves a sample of 2026 people.
A number considered rather low for a work of this type.
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The median age of those recruited is 31 years old.
Half of them received at least one dose of vaccine.
The other at least a dose of placebo.
It should also be added that none of the patients died or was hospitalized.
This does not prevent the authors from noting this ineffectiveness.
If these results are confirmed, the study could "complicate the race to deploy vaccines as new strains emerge," writes the Financial Times.
The laboratory's response was not long in coming.
In a statement this Saturday, AstraZeneca did not dispute the results of this study.
On the other hand, the big pharma wished to recall that its vaccine remained, according to it, effective against severe forms of the disease, including those developed by the South African variant, "in particular when the dosage interval is optimized to 8- 12 weeks ”.
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