The AstraZeneca vaccine is making headlines Monday. Here, compiled from Globe wire service and major media reports, is a briefing on what you need to know.
What is the latest news?
AstraZeneca announced that a clinical trial of more than 32,000 volunteers mostly conducted in the United States found that the vaccine was 79 percent effective in preventing illness from COVID-19. An independent monitoring board also found there were no safety concerns. “Obviously, it is great news for both the US and the world, the more vaccine and the more supply that exists,” Andy Slavitt, a senior White House pandemic adviser, said at a Monday briefing by the White House coronavirus response team.
What are the advantages of this vaccine?
The two-shot vaccine, which the company developed with Oxford University, is seen as key to the global effort to end the pandemic. The company says it can be stored, transported and handled at normal refrigerated conditions, between 36 and 46 degrees Fahrenheit. That could make it easier to administer in developing countries. And the company has said it will not seek a profit on the vaccine.
Will the shot be available to Americans sometime soon?
The company says it will prepare to apply “in the coming weeks” for emergency authorization from the US Food and Drug Administration, a process that may be familiar to those who have followed the approvals of the Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson vaccines. But that authorization is unlikely to become available before May.
Could this create a surplus of shots?
Federal officials have said there will already will be enough doses of the three currently authorized vaccines for all adult Americans by the end of May, raising the question whether the United States will need the AstraZeneca vaccine. Slavitt said it’s too early to “declare that we’re in a surplus position” but the advent of a new vaccine gives officials more flexibility for the future, which could include expanding vaccinations to adolescents currently ineligible or sharing supply with other countries. He noted that the US is already sending some AstraZeneca doses to Canada and Mexico.
Why has the vaccine gotten some bad press?
The vaccine has already been approved in more than 70 countries. But it has been a focus of controversy several times. Concerns were raised about the results from an earlier clinical trial when some participants were mistakenly given a half-dose of one shot. The company also missed delivery targets to the European Union. “AstraZeneca has unfortunately underproduced and underdelivered,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told reporters last week.
What about the reports of blood clotting?
Most recently, concerns were raised about reports of rare instances of blood clotting among younger people who had received the vaccine in Denmark, Germany, Norway and elsewhere. A dozen European Union nations stopped using the vaccine. The European Medicines Agency and the United Kingdom’s regulator said Thursday that no definitive link could be established between the clots and the vaccine, and that the benefits continued to outweigh the risks. But not all countries have resumed using it.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, President Biden’s lead medical adviser on the pandemic, said at the White House briefing Monday that during the latest clinical trial “there was no indication at all” of clotting events. He also said that when dealing with a vaccine that has been administered to millions of people, it’s important to distinguish “adverse events” caused by the vaccine from medical problems that would have occurred in such a large population anyway. That said, he added that “the FDA is going to very, very carefully go over these data. There will be an application for an [emergency use authorization], and I can tell you, you can rest assured, that the FDA will put a great deal of scrutiny in every aspect of these data.”
Material from Globe wire services was used in this report.
Martin Finucane can be reached at martin.finucane@globe.com.
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March 23, 2021 at 12:48AM
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Here’s what you need to know about the AstraZeneca vaccine - The Boston Globe
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