and slammed the global economy. And the world will need several different vaccines to immunize a significant portion of the global population, because each company is limited in how many it can produce.Still, among outside experts, the lack of information from Oxford and AstraZeneca on their vaccine drew skepticism almost immediately.
On safety, the AstraZeneca release raised questions by saying that no safety problems had been "confirmed." AstraZeneca also didn't release new information on the side effects of the shot, though researchersin the UK trial in the medical journal The Lancet. The vaccine was 90% effective in a group of people in one of the trials who got an unusual regimen by accident: half a dose of the shot, followed by a full dose a month later. Others got two full doses of the shot.A drip of disclosures raises questions
that the half-dose-full-dose regimen was actually given to participants by accident. The company hadn't disclosed that information in its press release.On Tuesday, Moncef Slaoui, the scientific head of the US vaccine effort known as Operation Warp Speed, added a couple details that confirmed concerns about the Oxford-AstraZeneca data.
that the company would further investigate the half-dose-full-dose regimen. He said he still expected to press forward with requests for regulatory approval in the UK and European Union.