Oxford University's Covid vaccine 'has a good safety record and efficacy' and could help control the pandemic, a scientist leading the study has said.

It comes as the first peer-reviewed results of phase 3 human trials of the jab were published in the Lancet today.

Interim results from pooled studies show the vaccine was 70.4 per cent effective, on average, in preventing coronavirus after two doses were given.

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For people given two full doses of the jab in one study, the vaccine was 62.1 per cent effective.

In a study where people received a half dose followed by a full dose, the vaccine was 90 per cent effective.

The overall efficacy of 70.4 per cent is based on 11,636 volunteers across the UK and Brazil, and combined across three groups of people vaccinated.

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Data for the vaccine, which has been developed with pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca, has been submitted to the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) for approval.

Professor Andrew Pollard, director of the Oxford Vaccine Group and chief investigator of the Oxford vaccine trial, said: “Today we have published the interim analysis of the phase three trial and show that this new vaccine has a good safety record and efficacy against the coronavirus.

“We are hugely grateful to our trial volunteers for working with us over the past eight months to bring us to this milestone.”

Writing in The Lancet medical journal, the researchers said there were no admissions to hospital or severe disease in people receiving the vaccine.

However, they said more detail is needed on how effective the vaccine is in older adults – those at most risk of severe Covid-19.

The data in The Lancet analysis was mostly restricted to people aged 55 and under, with work in older age groups still ongoing.

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Professor Pollard added: “Control of the pandemic will only be achieved if the licensing, manufacturing and distribution of these vaccines can be achieved at an unprecedented scale and vaccination is rolled out to those who are vulnerable.

“Our findings indicate that our vaccine’s efficacy exceeds the thresholds set by health authorities and may have a potential public health impact.”

Professor Sarah Gilbert, also part of the Oxford vaccine team, said: “We have known for many years that adenoviral vectored vaccines fulfil the requirements for use against outbreak or pandemic diseases.

"They are safe, highly immunogenic, can be manufactured in large quantities at low cost and do not require frozen storage.

"Following the demonstration of vaccine efficacy in many preclinical studies, we now have clear evidence of efficacy in the trial results presented in a peer-reviewed publication today.

"Now under regulatory review, we hope that this vaccine will shortly be in use to start saving lives.”