“Vaccine for the world” found to be 79 % effective

“Vaccine for the world” – COVID-19 Vaccine by Oxford University and AstraZeneca was found to be 79 % effective against symptomatic COVID-19 and 100 % effective against severe illness. New clinical study data was released from recent studies carried out in United States, Chile and Peru. Including 32,449 adult participants in all age groups (most from United States), the study participants received either two doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine or a placebo between four-week time. The two-shot system was completely effective at preventing severe cases of illness in the new studies. Five cases of severe illness were found in the new studies – all of them had received a placebo.

Costs for COVID-19 vaccines varies by country depending on the negotiations and company (BMJ article link in comment). For US, the doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine were bought around $4 per dose while South Africa bought them for about $5 and the EU bought them for about $2. In reference to other vaccines, the costs of BioNTech and Pfizer vaccine was bought about $15 per dose for EU and $20 per dose for US. The Moderna vaccine was about $15 per dose for US and about $18 for EU. Johnson and Johnson vaccine was bought about $8 per dose for EU and $10 for US.