AstraZeneca says its COVID-19 vaccine candidate is up to 90 percent effective

Drugmaker AstraZeneca announced Monday morning that its vaccine candidate, developed by Oxford University, is 70 percent effective, on average, in preventing COVID-19.

The company said an interim analysis of U.K. trials found an average efficacy rate of 70 percent, but could be as high as 90 percent, seemingly less effective than two other vaccines from Moderna and the Pfizer/BioNTech group.

The company said two full doses of the vaccine given at least a month apart appeared to be only 62 percent effective at preventing disease, while a half dose followed by a full dose was about 90 percent effective.

“We’ve found that one of our dosing regimens may be around 90 percent effective and if this dosing regime is used, more people could be vaccinated with planned vaccine supply,” Andrew Pollard, CEO of the Oxford Vaccine Trial, said in a statement. “Today’s announcement is only possible thanks to the many volunteers  in our trial, and the hard working and talented team of researchers based around the world.”