More good news as AstraZeneca finds a third Covid vaccine

Another week, another Covid-19 vaccine. This one from AstraZeneca and Oxford University is homegrown and ready to roll out fast. Matthew Partridge reports

Scientist doing science things
AstraZeneca has agreed to produce up to three billion doses
(Image credit: © AstraZeneca)

The good news keeps coming on the vaccine front, says Lex in the Financial Times – this time with positive results from AstraZeneca. The overall tally was “underwhelming”: the treatment’s average efficacy of 70% was “significantly less” than the figure achieved by the BioNTech/Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. But the best results, of 90% efficacy, were achieved for participants who only received half of the first of two doses. This suggests that “more people can get a shot with the same amount of vaccine”. AstraZeneca has already agreed deals with drugmakers in Russia, Brazil and India to produce up to three billion doses.

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Dr Matthew Partridge
Shares editor, MoneyWeek

Matthew graduated from the University of Durham in 2004; he then gained an MSc, followed by a PhD at the London School of Economics.

He has previously written for a wide range of publications, including the Guardian and the Economist, and also helped to run a newsletter on terrorism. He has spent time at Lehman Brothers, Citigroup and the consultancy Lombard Street Research.

Matthew is the author of Superinvestors: Lessons from the greatest investors in history, published by Harriman House, which has been translated into several languages. His second book, Investing Explained: The Accessible Guide to Building an Investment Portfolio, is published by Kogan Page.

As senior writer, he writes the shares and politics & economics pages, as well as weekly Blowing It and Great Frauds in History columns He also writes a fortnightly reviews page and trading tips, as well as regular cover stories and multi-page investment focus features.

Follow Matthew on Twitter: @DrMatthewPartri