USA Health Agency: AstraZeneca May Have Used Outdated Data In Vaccine Trial

On Tuesday 23rd March 2021 a US federal health official stated that results from a US trial of AstraZeneca`s Covid-19 vaccine may have used outdated information. The Data and Safety Monitoring Board said in a statement that it was concerned that AstraZeneca may have provided an incomplete view of the efficacy data.

On Monday AstraZeneca reported that its Covid-19 vaccine provided strong protection among adults of all ages in the US based on their study and they are confident that these findings would help regain public confidence around the world and move it a step closer to being cleared in the USA.

According to the trial involving 30,000 people the vaccine was found to be 79% effective at preventing symptomatic cases of Covid-19 inclusive of older adults. Among those vaccinated volunteers there were no severe illnesses or hospitalizations compared with five such cases in participants who received dummy shots making it consistent with findings from Britain and other countries that the vaccine protects against the worst of the disease.

AstraZeneca confirmed that there were no serious side effects including no increased risk of rare blood clots like those identified in Europe a scare that resulted in numerous suspensions of the vaccine in various countries.

The company aims to file an application with the Food and Drug Administration in the coming weeks so as to get an approval for the vaccine to be used in USA.