AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 Vaccine 82% Effective Against Variants

July 29, 2021 - AstraZeneca recently announced that its COVID-19 vaccine, Vaxzevria, was 82 percent effective against hospitalization or death caused by the Beta/Gamma SARS-CoV-2 variants. 

The results, published by the Canadian Immunization Research Network (CIRN), with support from Public Health Agency of Canada and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, also found that the vaccine was highly effective against the Delta and Alpha variants. 

The study enrolled 69,533 individuals with COVID-19 between December 2020 and May 2021 in Canada. About 28,705 were positive for non-variants of concern, while 40,828 were positive for a variant of concern. 

Researchers found that Vexzevria elicited an 87 and 90 percent reduction of hospitalizations or deaths against the Delta and Alpha variants, respectively. The effectiveness of the vaccine after one dose against hospitalization or death was similar to that of other vaccines tested in the study. 

“With different variants threatening to disrupt our route out of the pandemic, this real-world evidence shows that Vaxzevria, along with other vaccines used in Canada, provides a high level of protection against the most serious forms of the disease, even after just one shot,” Mene Pangalos, executive vice president of biopharmaceuticals research and development at AstraZeneca, said in the announcement. 

“It is essential that we continue to protect as many people as possible in all corners of the world in order to get ahead of this deadly virus,” Pangalos continued. 

Vaxzevria was effective against milder COVID-19 disease, but this data was only reported after a first dose instead of the approved two-dose schedule.

Additionally, vaccine effectiveness against any symptomatic disease was 50 percent against the Beta/Gamma variants, 70 percent against the Delta variant, and 72 percent against the Alpha variant. 

Pfizer, BioNTech Provide US Govt 200M More Doses of COVID-19 Vaccine

Pfizer and BioNTech recently announced that the US government purchased an additional 200 million doses of their COVID-19 vaccine. The doses will be delivered from October 2021 through April 2022. 

Under the existing supply agreement, the additional purchase brings the total vaccine doses supplied by companies to the government to 500 million.

“As a long-term partner to the U.S. government in the fight against this pandemic, we are proud of the impact of vaccination efforts across the country. Vaccines have been and will remain critical to protecting lives against this devastating disease,” Albert Bourla, chairman and chief executive officer of Pfizer, said in the announcement. 

“These additional doses will help the U.S. government ensure broad vaccine access into next year,” Bourla continued. 

The companies expect to deliver 110 million of the additional doses by December 31, 2021. The remaining 90 million doses will be delivered no later than April 30, 2022. The government also has the option to acquire an updated version of the vaccine to address potential variants.

Although FDA has not approved the vaccine, the agency issued the first emergency use authorization for a COVID-19 vaccine to Pfizer and BioNTech’s vaccine in December. 

Moderna Partners with Takeda, Japan to Supply 50M Doses of COVID-19 Vaccine

Moderna recently announced that the Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare of Japan and Takeda have agreed to purchase and distribute an additional 50 million doses of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine and its updated variant booster vaccine candidate. 

The new supply agreement of 50 million brings the total number of doses for distribution in Japan to 100 million. Distribution will begin in 2022. 

As part of the agreement, Moderna is responsible for the manufacture and supply of Moderna’s vaccine candidate and Takeda is responsible for all import, local regulatory, development, and distribution activities in Japan. 

“We thank the MHLW and Takeda for their support and for partnering with us to bring our mRNA COVID-19 vaccine to Japan,” Stéphane Bancel, chief executive officer of Moderna, said in the announcement. 

“We remain committed to making our vaccine available around the world as we seek to address the pandemic,” Bancel continued.