With a total of 39.1 million doses delivered to the Philippines, AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine is estimated to have prevented 52,224 deaths locally, an independent assessment of vaccine effectiveness shows.
Lotis Ramin, Country President of AstraZeneca (Philippines) Ltd., said: “Primary and booster vaccination coverage remains critically important, and this new data further demonstrates that our vaccine is highly effective in protecting against COVID-19’s worst outcome. AstraZeneca remains fully committed to continuing our work with the Philippine government, local government units, and the private sector to ensure each and every Filipino is vaccinated and boosted as a priority.”
The analysis conducted by Airfinity, a health data firm, covers the period from December 8, 2020 to December 8, 2021. The data showed that globally, the AstraZeneca vaccine is estimated to have saved more than 6.3 million lives.
In addition to the human health impact, Covid-19 vaccinations also created significant and measurable economic benefits, according to recent research from the consultancy firm KPMG, which was commissioned by AstraZeneca. In the Philippines, mass vaccinations from January to October 2021, covering the first stages of the country’s vaccine roll-out, is estimated to have saved US$3.2 billion in pandemic healthcare costs.
Billions of doses
SINCE the Covid-19 pandemic began, AstraZeneca and its global partners have released more than three billion vaccine doses to more than 180 countries, and approximately two-thirds of these doses have been delivered to low- and lower-middle income countries.
AstraZeneca’s vaccine, which is a viral vector vaccine, and mRNA Covid-19 vaccines, both provide high protection against hospitalization (91.3-92.5%) and death (91.4-93.3%) after two doses regardless of age, with no statistical difference between them.
AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine was invented by the University of Oxford. It uses a replication-deficient chimpanzee viral vector based on a weakened version of a common cold virus (adenovirus) that causes infections in chimpanzees and contains the genetic material of the SARS-CoV-2 virus spike protein. After vaccination, the surface spike protein is produced, priming the immune system to attack the SARS-CoV-2 virus if it later infects the body.
The vaccine has been granted a conditional marketing authorization or emergency use in more than 125 countries. It also has Emergency Use Listing from the World Health Organization, which accelerates the pathway to access in up to 144 countries through the COVAX Facility.
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