AZN AstraZeneca PLC

By Jenny Strasburg and Joseph Walker 

LONDON -- Peer-reviewed data from late-stage human trials of a Covid-19 vaccine developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca PLC reaffirmed the shot's strong safety results and provided some additional evidence that halving the first of two doses of the shot boosts its effectiveness.

AstraZeneca and Oxford said the data gave them confidence to ask the U.K. and other countries for emergency-use authorization of the shot, but said that regulators will have to decide which dosing regimen to approve. Last month, AstraZeneca and Oxford said trial data showed its vaccine was between 62% and 90% effective, but that the higher results were observed in a small subset of the wider trial.

This subset received a half-sized initial dose followed by a full second dose. The group was also all under 55 years old, raising questions about whether the lower dosing would also be effective in older subjects.

AstraZeneca and Oxford on Tuesday declined to say whether they would ask regulators to approve the lower dose regimen, leaving unclear whether any initial vaccine approval and rollout would be limited to the less-effective regimen. The 62% effectiveness shown in the majority of the trial participants is still better than what health experts said was necessary to protect people against severe Covid-19.

Write to Jenny Strasburg at jenny.strasburg@wsj.com and Joseph Walker at joseph.walker@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 08, 2020 11:15 ET (16:15 GMT)

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