AstraZeneca ’s U.S. Study May Answer Some of the Lingering Questions About Its Vaccine

This study puts to bed any doubts that this isn’t a highly effective vaccine against COVID-19 disease and COVID-19 symptoms,” says Mene Pangalos, executive vice president for biopharmaceuticals research and development at AstraZeneca. AstraZeneca’s vaccine is based on technology developed by scientists at Oxford University’s Jenner Institute, and involves using a chimpanzee adenovirus modified so it cannot cause the cold infection it normally does. The chimp virus acts as a vehicle to deliver genes into the body, where it encodes the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein; cells then process the protein so the immune system can recognize it as foreign and mount a strong response against it. The decisions by countries to halt vaccination with the AstraZeneca shot were likely “premature,” says Dr. Ann Falsey, professor of medicine at the University of Rochester and one of the coordinating investigators of the U.S. trial. The latest study bears that out, since it revealed no increased risk for blood clotting issues among people who were vaccinated than would normally occur even without the shot. Nevertheless, the reports of blood clotting and the choices of European countries to stop using the vaccine will likely factor into discussions about the safety of the shot when AstraZeneca submits its request for emergency-use authorization to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in what Pangalos expects will be “a very small number of weeks.” In the p...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized COVID-19 Source Type: news