The University of Oxford on Friday said that its coronavirus vaccine, developed jointly with pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, offers similar protection against the United Kingdom variant as it does to other mutations. The UK variant, first discovered in Kent, southern England, is more transmissible than other mutations.
The findings, released in a preprint paper and have not yet been peer-reviewed, also said recent analysis showed that vaccination with the shot results in a reduction in the duration of shedding and viral load, which can translate into a reduced transmission of the disease.
“Data from our trials of the ChAdOx1 vaccine in the United Kingdom indicate that the vaccine not only protects against the original pandemic virus, but also protects against the novel variant, B.1.1.7, which caused the surge in disease from the end of 2020 across the UK,” Andrew Pollard, the chief investigator on the Oxford vaccine trial, said.
Sarah Gilbert, a professor of…