Astrazeneca claims to be 90% effective on covid-19 patients

British-Swedish drugmaker AstraZeneca said on Monday its covid vaccine for the novel coronavirus, developed along with the University of Oxford, could be around 90% effective under one dosing regimen.

The British-Swedish drugmaker’s preliminary trial results mark a fresh breakthrough in the fight against a pandemic that has killed nearly 1.4 million people and roiled the global economy. Earlier this week, Pfizer and Moderna had reported promising results from vaccine trials.

Positive high-level results from an interim analysis of clinical trials of AZD1222 in the UK and Brazil showed the covid vaccine was highly effective in preventing COVID-19.

A key researcher at the University of Oxford says scientists expect to report results from the late-stage trials of their COVID-19 vaccine by Christmas. Dr. Andrew Pollard, an expert in pediatric infection and immunity at Oxford, said Thursday Nov. 19, 2020 that research was slowed by low infection rates over the summer but the Phase III trials are now accumulating the data needed to report results.