Vaxzevria Vaccine Provided Protection Against B.1.1.7 Coronavirus Variant Disease

The Lancet published the results of the Phase 2/3 study 'Efficacy of ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 (AZD1222) vaccine against the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus variant of concern 202012/01 (B.1.1.7): an exploratory analysis of a randomized controlled trial.'

These researchers concluded on March 30, 2021, the 'ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine (AstraZeneca COVID-19) (Vaxzevria) showed reduced neutralization activity against the B.1.1.7 variant compared with a non-B.1.1.7 variant in vitro, but the vaccine showed efficacy against the B.1.1.7 variant of SARS-CoV-2.'

These findings show that while laboratory neutralizing antibody titers generated by vaccination with ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine are lower for the B.1.1.7 lineage, clinical vaccine efficacy against symptomatic COVID-19 was observed for the B.1.1.7 variant at 70.4%.

This suggests that lower neutralizing antibody titers are sufficient to provide protection or that other immune mechanisms could be responsible for protecting disease in vaccinated individuals.

The Vaxzevria - AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine efficacy against this new variant is an important finding for regions where B.1.1.7 is now the dominant variant, and vaccination programs are already underway, concluded these researchers.

Vaxzevria is the new global name for the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.