Oxford-AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine is at least 70 percent effective in late-stage trial

Oxford University and drugmaker AstraZeneca announced Monday morning that their COVID-19 vaccine candidate had proved to be 70 percent effective in its Phase Three trial of 20,000 volunteers in Britain and Brazil. And Oxford Vaccine Group director Andrew Pollard told BBC Radio 4 Today that the vaccine appeared to be 90 percent effective when people were given a half-dose of the vaccine followed by a full dose.

"We are really pleased with these results," Pollard said. "What we have got is a vaccine that is able to protect against coronavirus disease and, importantly, there were no hospitalizations or severe cases in anyone who had the Oxford vaccine." Sarah Gilbert, the vaccine's architect, said "the announcement today takes us another step closer to the time when we can use vaccines to bring an end to the devastation caused by" the new coronavirus.

Britain has ordered 100 million doses of the Oxford vaccine, and if U.K. regulators approve it for emergency use, the country is ready to roll out an aggressive immunization program. Residents and staff of nursing homes are first on the list of those approved for vaccinations, followed by health care workers and people over 85, then consecutively lower age groups.

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"After Pfizer and Modena both produced vaccines delivering 95 percent protection from COVID-19, a figure of 70 percent is relatively disappointing," BBC News reports. "However, anything above 50 percent would have been considered a triumph just a month ago. This vaccine can also be stored at fridge temperature, which means it can be distributed to every corner of the world, unlike the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, which need to be stored at much colder temperatures."