Oxford-AstraZeneca’s ‘error’ might have got it closer to the real dose needed for the COVID-19 vaccine — but it is also raising many questions

• The manufacturing error in the AstraZeneca and Oxford university COVID vaccine has left many scientists questioning the efficacy of the vaccine.
• Oxford University said that some of the vials from the trial didn’t have the right concentration of the vaccine, which meant that some of the members of the trial got only half a dose.
• However, the group of volunteers who got a lower dose seemed to be much better protected than the volunteers who got two full doses.

Just three days after AstraZeneca and Oxford University said their COVID-19 vaccine was ‘highly effective’, a surprise error in the trial has left many scientists questioning the efficacy of the vaccine.

Earlier this week, drugmaker Astrazeneca and the University of Oxford announced that their coronavirus vaccine candidate is 70% effective in preventing COVID-19, according to their latest trials conducted in the UK and Brazil.

However, on November 25, in a statement acknowledging the error, Oxford University said that some of the vials from the trial didn’t have the right concentration of the vaccine, which meant that some of the members of the trial got only half a dose.

The manufacturing problem has been corrected, said the statement. But they have not mentioned why some participants did not receive as much vaccine in the first two shots as expected.

Why experts are raising concerns

The group of volunteers that got a lower dose seemed to be much better protected than the volunteers who got two full doses. AstraZeneca said that in the low-dose group, the vaccine appeared to be 90% effective. Whereas the group that got two full doses, the vaccine appeared to be 62% effective. The drugmakers said that combined, the vaccine appeared to be 70% effective.

However, now the results of the trial seem to be skewed as according to the company’s earlier statement only 2,800 participants had received the lower dose while a much higher number (8,900) received the two full doses.

Astrazeneca defends their testing and disclosures

A senior executive at Astrazeneca has defended the criticism that the company is facing on their testing and public disclosures. The lower dose of the vaccine which wasn’t actually intended by the researchers has been called as “serendipity” by Menelas Pangalos, the Executive Vice President, BioPharmaceuticals R&D at Astrazeneca, who shared a statement with the New York Times.

However, the researchers haven’t yet been able to determine why the lower dose was more effective. The report also stated that the vaccine results had been merged from two different pools of the trial, which makes it even more complicated.

Business Insider reached out to Serum Institute of India, and they have no comment on this matter for now.

Serum Institute of India which will distribute the Oxford Astrazeneca vaccine had said that India will be a priority and will cost the Indian government $3 per dose.

AstraZeneca's was the third positive vaccine news after Pfizer and Moderna — all of whom are progressing rapidly with their vaccine trials and are claiming success so far.

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