[ti:AstraZeneca: US Data Shows Vaccine Effective for All Ages] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM [00:00.04]Drug-maker AstraZeneca said Monday its vaccine [00:05.72]provided strong protection against COVID-19. [00:10.24]The two-shot vaccine also stopped hospitalizations and deaths [00:16.60]for all age groups, including older people. [00:21.20]The results came from the long-awaited study in the United States. [00:27.64]In a statement, AstraZeneca said its COVID-19 vaccine [00:33.32]was 79 percent effective at preventing COVID-19. [00:39.04]The company also said its vaccine was 100 percent effective [00:45.08]in stopping severe disease and hospitalization. [00:50.32]And the vaccine worked across all ethnic groups [00:54.20]and ages, including older people. [00:58.32]The U.S. study included more than 30,000 people. [01:03.44]About 20,000 were given two shots of the vaccine. [01:08.08]The shots were injected four weeks apart. [01:12.68]The rest received shots of inactive substance called placebos. [01:18.48]AstraZeneca said its experts did not find any safety concerns. [01:25.16]They also found no increased risk of unusual blood system blockages, [01:30.96]or blood clots, that was a cause for concern in Europe. [01:36.68]"These findings reconfirm previous results observed," said Ann Falsey. [01:43.24]She is with the University of Rochester School of Medicine [01:47.76]and helped lead the study. [01:50.64]"It's exciting to see similar efficacy results [01:54.12]in people over 65 for the first time," she said. [02:00.04]Full information about the study, however, has not been published. [02:04.80]And no outside experts have reviewed the information. [02:09.28]The British-Swiss company said Monday [02:12.52]that it will seek emergency use permission in the U.S. [02:17.64]AstraZeneca's coronavirus vaccine has been approved [02:21.68]for emergency use in more than 50 countries. [02:26.20]When it was approved for emergency use in Britain last December, [02:30.84]the shot was described as the "vaccine for the world." [02:35.52]It costs much less than vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna. [02:41.04]It also does not require extreme cold storage, [02:45.40]making it easier to use in countries with limited resources. [02:49.88]The AstraZeneca vaccine is a large part of the United Nations COVAX program. [02:57.20]The program aims to get COVID-19 vaccines to poorer countries. [03:03.48]Dr. Paul Hunter is a professor of medicine at the University of East Anglia. [03:10.28]He said that more information was needed to confirm AstraZeneca's claim [03:15.92]that the vaccine can stop severe disease and hospitalization. [03:21.24]He added, however, that the results appeared hopeful. [03:26.64]"This should add confidence that the vaccine is doing [03:30.48]what it is most needed for," said Hunter, [03:33.64]who was not connected to the study. [03:36.84]Last September, AstraZeneca vaccine drug trials [03:41.08]were temporarily suspended in both Britain and the U.S. [03:46.64]The company said a woman in the study [03:49.28]had developed inflammation in her spine. [03:53.04]This led to a delay in the U.S. drug trial. [03:57.00]The drug-maker was slow to report manufacturing problems last October. [04:03.00]The company and its partner, Britain's University of Oxford, [04:07.40]then reported unclear results from two different vaccine treatments [04:12.56]in the British drug trial, which left many uncertain if it was safe and effective. [04:19.08]Last week, more than 12 countries, mostly in Europe, stopped using the vaccine [04:25.12]after reports it was linked to unusual blood clots. [04:29.60]On Thursday, the European Medicines Agency [04:33.92]said its investigation found the vaccine [04:37.60]did not raise the risk of blood clots, other than very rare cases. [04:43.04]France, Germany, Italy and other countries [04:46.92]started using the AstraZeneca vaccine again on Friday. [04:52.68]AstraZeneca said it would continue [04:55.04]to examine the new information from the U.S. study [04:59.20]before giving it to the FDA in the coming weeks. [05:03.96]It said the study and its results will soon be published. [05:09.16]I'm Susan Shand. 更多听力请访问51VOA.COM