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Agencies:

AstraZeneca Coronavirus vaccine has 'winning formula', 100% effective, says CEO

London
December 28, 2020

The Coronavirus vaccine developed by the British drugs group AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford has achieved a "winning formula" for efficacy, the company's Chief Executive said on Sunday.

The Coronavirus vaccine, currently being evaluated by Britain's independent medicines regulator, provides "100% protection" against severe COVID disease requiring hospitalization, Pascal Soriot said.

Added that he believes trials will show his firm has achieved a vaccine efficacy equal to Pfizer-BioNTech at 95% and Moderna at 94.5%.

"We think we have figured out the winning formula and how to get efficacy that, after two doses, is up there with everybody else," the Chief Executive said, while saying only that data would be published at "some point".

The UK Government announced on December 23 that the developers of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine had submitted their data to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). Approval is expected to be granted to roll out the jab on January 4, news reported.

The Pfizer BioNTech vaccine was the first Coronavirus shot to be authorized for use by the UK's independent medicines regulator and has been given to 6,00,000 of the country's most vulnerable people since last month.

Earlier trials had shown varying outcomes in the AstraZeneca shot's efficacy. The vaccine initially showed an average 70% effectiveness but that level jumped to 90% depending on the dosage.