COVID-19

COVID-19 Roundup: AstraZeneca Vaccine, Vitamin D, UK Variant

AstraZeneca Vaccine

Results of a recent study have shown that the AstraZeneca vaccine, AZD1222, effectively prevents symptomatic COVID-19. No safety concerns were identified.

The study included 32,449 adults from 88 sites in the United States, Chile, and Peru. For every 2 participants given AZD1222 (2 doses, 4 weeks apart), one was given a placebo. Overall, the vaccine was shown to be 78.9% effective at preventing symptomatic COVID019 and 100% effective at preventing severe or critical disease and hospitalization.

UK Variant

According to Anthony Fauci, the B.1.1.7 variant likely accounts for roughly 30% of COVID-19 infections in the United States and could become the dominant strain in the United States by April 2021. The variant has been shown to spread more easily than other variants, and previous research has suggested that it may be associated with higher mortality risk.

Vitamin D

According to data from a recent study, having above-average levels of vitamin D is associated with lower risk of infection with COVID-19, especially in Black individuals.

In the retrospective study, the researchers used data from more than 3000 patients at UChicago Medicine, finding that Black participants with levels of 30 to 40 ng/ml were 2.64 times more likely to be diagnosed with COVID-19 than were those with levels of 40 ng/ml or greater.

—Michael Potts

References:

  1. NIH. Investigational AstraZeneca vaccine prevents COVID-19. News release. March 22, 2021. https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/investigational-astrazeneca-vaccine-prevents-covid-19
  2. Lovelace B, Miao H. Fauci says the variant from the U.K. likely accounts for up to 30% of Covid infections in US. CNBC. Published March 19, 2021. https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/19/covid-fauci-says-the-variant-from-the-uk-likely-accounts-for-up-to-30percent-of-infections-in-us.html.
  3. Meltzer DO, Best TJ, Zhang H, et al. Association of vitamin D levels, race/ethnicity, and clinical characteristics with COVID-19 test results. JAMA Netw Open. 2021;4(3):e214117. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.4117