Why is Oxford-AstraZeneca Vaccine Looking Like India’s Best Shot for COVID?

<div>Even as India battles a big spike in COVID cases, forcing some states to reimpose certain restrictions on people's movements, the good news is that vaccine developers are inching towards success in a rapid pace.<br> <br> </div> <div>Recently, the COVID-19 vaccine being developed by the University of Oxford and Swedish-British pharma AstraZeneca was announced to be 70 percent effective after a large-scale trial. This of course comes on the heels of a string of announcements from other research groups:</div> <ul> <li>Pfizer's announcement from 9 November, of the interim results of its candidate vaccine proving to be more than 90 percent effective (which they later revised to 95 percent),</li> <li>Russia's announcement that came on 11 November, on Sputnik V showing 92 percent efficacy in late-stage trials,</li> <li>And Moderna's announcement from 16 November about its candidate's 94.5 percent efficacy.</li> </ul> <div><br> </div> <div>And not to mention India's very own candidate — COVAXIN being developed by Bharat Biotech, who on 23 November said that the vaccine is expected to be 60 percent efficacious.<br> <br> </div> <div>What do these different levels of efficacy mean for us in this vaccine race? Why is the Oxford-Astrazeneca vaccine looking like India's best shot? Tune in to The Big Story!<br> <br> <strong>Producer and Host: </strong>Shorbori Purkayastha<br> <strong>Guests: </strong>Dr Shahid Jameel, Virologist and Director, Trivedi School of Biosciences at Ashoka University<br> <strong>Interview:</strong> Vaishali Sood, Editor, Quint Fit</div> <div> <strong>Editor:</strong> Shelly Walia</div> <div><br> </div> <div> <strong>Music:</strong> Big Bang Fuzz<br> <br> <strong>Listen to The Big Story podcast on:</strong> </div> <div><br> </div> <div>Apple: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/redirect?q=https%3A%2F%2Fapple.co%2F2AYdLIl&amp;redir_token=G9sQMbbppKv-LEFD29gDyTmPMzt8MTU3MTM4MDU5NkAxNTcxMjk0MTk2&amp;v=xkpX1V6aUFo&amp;event=video_description">https://apple.co/2AYdLIl</a>