Oxford Covid-19 vaccine has similar effect against UK variant, study suggests

Researchers who developed the vaccine say it has a similar efficacy against the variant (Yui Mok/PA)

The Oxford/AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine is just as effective at fighting the UK variant as the original virus, new research suggests.

Oxford University researchers who developed the vaccine say it has a similar efficacy against the variant, compared with the original strain of Covid-19 against which it was tested.

Experts had been concerned about whether or not the vaccines currently being administered throughout the UK would be effective against the strain that emerged after trials had been conducted.

The preprint also describes analysis which suggests vaccination with the Oxford/AstraZeneca jab results in a reduction in the duration of shedding and viral load, which may translate into a reduced transmission of the disease.

Andrew Pollard, professor of paediatric infection and immunity, and chief investigator on the Oxford vaccine trial, said: “Data from our trials of the ChAdOx1 vaccine in the United Kingdom indicate that the vaccine not only protects against the original pandemic virus, but also protects against the novel variant, B117, which caused the surge in disease from the end of 2020 across the UK.”