Oxford Covid-19 Vaccine Chief Says Half-dose Trial Finding is ‘Intriguing’ Result

The Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine candidate’s late-stage trial results are “intriguing” and more work needs to be done on the finding that an initial half dose of the shot offers more protection, Oxford’s vaccine chief said on Monday.

Phase III trial results of the vaccine candidate found it was 90% effective if administered at a half dose and then at a full dose, or 62% effective if administered in two full doses.

“That 90% is an intriguing result. So when we give a half dose as the first dose (it) means that we’ve got more vaccine available. And then… after the second dose we see 90% protection,” Andrew Pollard, director of the Oxford Vaccine Group, told BBC TV.

“I think that’s a really exciting and intriguing result which we need to dig further into,” he said.