Covid 19: Oxford jab protection against South Africa variant "limited"

 Covid 19: Oxford jab protection against South Africa variant "limited"

 The preliminary findings, first reported by the Financial Times, suggest the vaccine offers limited protection against mild and moderate disease caused by the variant....

The study is due to be published on Monday...

A spokesman for AstraZeneca said they had not yet been able to properly establish whether the jab would prevent severe disease and hospitalization caused by the South Africa variant because those involved in the study had predominantly been young, healthy adults.

But the company expressed confidence that the vaccine would offer protection against serious cases because it created neutralizing antibodies similar to those of other coronavirus vaccines...

A spokesman for AstraZeneca said the company and the University of Oxford had started adapting the vaccine against the South Africa variant, adding that a new vaccine to work against mutated versions of the virus could be ready to deploy in the autumn if needed..

Dr Michael Head a senior research fellow in global health at the University of Southampton, said that if the Oxford-Astra Zeneca vaccine was less protective against mild disease but prevented severe disease this would "still be a pretty good outcome"

"I don't think we need to be too alarmed by [the reported findings] as yet but we do need to see the full study to work out what the implications really are"

Dr Nikki Kanani, medical director of primary care at NHS England encouraged people to take a vaccine when offered, adding that evidence shows they are "very protective" - particularly against hospitalization and death from Covid 19...

"However, she told Breakfast that scientists will have to keep looking at how coronavirus vaccines are working as they will likely have to be given on a yearly basis to "reflect any changes" in variants of the virus like the flu jab..."