- One dose of AstraZeneca's (NASDAQ:AZN) Vaxzevria was 82% effective against hospitalization or death caused by the Beta/Gamma variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, according to a study conducted in Canada.
- The vaccine also showed efficacy against the Delta (B.617.2, ‘Indian’) and Alpha (B.1.1.7, ‘Kent’) variants with an 87% and 90% reduction of hospitalizations or deaths respectively.
- Vaxzevria effectiveness after one dose against hospitalization/death was similar to that of other vaccines tested in the study.
- Follow-up time was not sufficient to report on effectiveness of Vaxzevria after two doses.
- Against Delta, vaccine effectiveness after partial vaccination tended to be lower compared to Alpha for mRNA-1273 (72% vs. 83%) and BNT162b2 (56% vs. 66%), but was similar to Alpha for ChAdOx1 (67% vs. 64%).
- The analysis included 69,533 individuals who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 during December 2020 to May 2021 in Ontario, Canada.
- “With different variants threatening to disrupt our route out of the pandemic, this real-world evidence shows that Vaxzevria, along with other vaccines used in Canada, provides a high level of protection against the most serious forms of the disease, even after just one shot", said Mene Pangalos, Executive Vice President, BioPharmaceuticals R&D.