The results, reported in Nature Medicine, suggest the variant’s key mutation, known as E484K, does not dramatically undermine the vaccine’s protection. Oxford/AstraZeneca Country UK Efficacy 70.4% 14 days after receiving the second dose. “Extrapolating from that, there’s still some hope that the AstraZeneca vaccine might well perform as well as the Johnson & Johnson vaccine in a different age demographic that are at highest risk of severe disease,” he said. On the issue of delaying the second dose, he said the Oxford vaccine efficacy after a single dose was 75% but this was before the South African variant arose. • This article was amended on 9 February 2021 to clarify that Prof Mahdi led the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine trial, and to include reference to that study awaiting publication and peer review.

Source: The Guardian February 08, 2021 09:39 UTC