Oxford-AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine may help prevent transmission, developers say
By Karla Adam, William Booth and Carolyn Y. Johnson
LONDON — The developers of the Oxford-AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine report that it may help prevent people from spreading the virus, offering a hopeful but only preliminary answer to one of the great remaining questions of the pandemic.
While multiple vaccines have produced evidence that they are effective at reducing the number of people who display covid-19 symptoms or get severe illness or die, much less is known about whether any of the vaccines now available can prevent asymptomatic infections that can pass from one person to another — thereby reducing the need for social distancing and allowing a return to normal life.
In a preprint of an article under review at the Lancet medical journal, the Oxford University vaccine developers report that based on follow-up studies of their clinical trials, which found the vaccine safe and effective, there is also “the potential for the vaccine to reduce transmission of the virus.”
