No studies were carried out to examine the efficacy of the vaccine against the variant found in South Africa. The Oxford vaccine appears to protect people against the new, more transmissible variant (B.1.1.7) first found in Britain in end-November and has since become the dominant one in the U.K. The efficacy of the vaccine against the U.K. variant is comparable with the efficacy against other SARS-CoV-2 virus lineages. “Data from our trials of the Oxford vaccine in the U.K. indicate that the vaccine not only protects against the original pandemic virus, but also protects against the novel variant,” Andrew Pollard, Professor of Paediatric Infection and Immunity, and Chief Investigator on the Oxford vaccine trial, said in a release. While neutralising antibody titres generated by vaccination with Oxford vaccine are lower for the new variant, clinical efficacy of the vaccine against symptomatic COVID disease is similar for both the new variant and other lineages.

Source: The Hindu February 05, 2021 18:48 UTC