Oxford vaccine up to 90% effective and costs just Rs.300/- per dose -

The overall results of 70.4 per cent efficacy for the Oxford-AZ vaccine is still higher than most flu jabs, which offer protection of 40-60 per cent.

 a lower amount of the vaccine in a first dose and then the full amount in the second dose were found to be 90 per cent less likely to develop Covid, compared with participants in the placebo group.

A possible explanation for the half dose doing better is that this regimen probably mimics the body’s natural response to an infection: a fightback against an infection being led by the first set of antibodies — phagocytes, interferons and cytokines — before a more tailored attack is mounted by the specialised neutralising antibodies — the B-cells and the T-cells.

There were no severe cases or hospitalisation in the 23,000 people who got the shot.

Unlike the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines, which must be stored/transported at negative 20-80 degrees Celsius, the Oxford-AZ candidate can be stored up closer to normal fridge temperatures, which means it can be distributed and administered cheaper and faster to people.

The vaccine can be transported under normal refrigerated temperatures of 2 to 8 degrees Celsius, AZ said Monday. By comparison, Pfizer has to distribute its vaccine using specially designed “thermal shippers” that use dry ice to maintain temperatures of minus-80 degrees Celsius.

For the Oxford-AZ vaccine, the normal supply chain for vaccines that are currently in use across countries such as India, can be used for supplying this vaccine, especially to the rural areas where cold chain logistics are weak..

It’s being produced in India, and could be first to reach Indians

Serum Institute of India’s Covishield, which the Pune-based company has been producing “at risk”, is a variant of AZD1222 and is currently undergoing late-stage human trials in India on 1,600 participants. As things stack up, this could be among the first vaccines that could be used to inoculate Indians once the bridging study being conducted here is cleared by the Indian drug regulator.

Plus, the results of the Oxford-AZ vaccine could be extremely positive news for Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine, which uses a technology similar to AZD1222 — the non-replicating viral vector method. The Russian vaccine is also under trials in India, with the involvement of Hyderabad-based Dr Reddy’s Labs.

India doesn’t really have any firm tie-ups for either the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines — both of which use the novel mRNA technology — at present.