AstraZeneca Most Effective in Protecting Older People: Firm's CEO

Leading drug-making company AstraZeneca's CEO Pascal Soriot said that the corporation's vaccine can provide longer protection, and effectiveness for older people against COVID-19 more than other mRNA-technology-based vaccines such as Pfizer, and Moderna, Politico reported on Tuesday.

Hence, the UK hasn't suffered from a high surge in infections, and hospitalizations such as the other European countries in recent months amid the fourth wave of the pandemic, the CEO explained, saying: “It's really interesting, when you look at the U.K., there was a big peak of infections, but not so many hospitalizations relative to Europe."

Pascal continued: “In the U.K., this vaccine was used to vaccinate older people whereas in Europe initially people thought the vaccine doesn't work in older people.”

After that, he explained that AstraZeneca's superiority over the other mRNA vaccines because it has a better T cell response than the other vaccines that are based on the same technology.

“The antibody response is what drives the immediate reaction or defense of the body when you are attacked by the virus,” adding: “And the T cell response takes a little longer to come in. But it's actually more durable; it lasts longer," Pascal highlighted.

It is worthy to mention that the AstraZeneca vaccine is one of the most common vaccines in the UK, alongside Pfizer, in addition, it is the most distributed vaccine by the UK globally as the kingdom supplied 170 countries with more than 2 billion AstraZeneca vaccine doses, according to UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson.