Delighted over AstraZeneca Covid vaccine's efficacy: Adar Poonawalla

The vaccine has shown an average of 70 per cent efficacy in trials

Hours after the Covid-19 vaccine being developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca showed encouraging results, the Pune-headquartered Serum Institute of India (SII) said that it was delighted at the development.

“I am delighted to hear that, Covishield, a low-cost, logistically manageable and soon to be widely available, Covid-19 vaccine, will offer protection up to 90 % in one type of dosage regime and 62 % in the other dosage regime,” SII CEO and Owner Adar Poonawalla tweeted.

A few days ago, he had said: “Definition of a good vaccine – safe, offers long-term protection against targetted disease, can be transported and stored at a manageable temperature and affordable to all of humanity.”

British drugs group AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford said their jointly-developed vaccine against Covid-19 has shown "an average efficacy of 70 per cent" in trials.

"This vaccine's efficacy and safety confirm that it will be highly effective against Covid-19 and will have an immediate impact on this public health emergency," AstraZeneca chief executive Pascal Soriot said in a statement.

The results ranged between 62 and 90 per cent efficacy depending on the vaccine dosage.

With AFP inputs