British drugs group AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford on Monday said their jointly-developed vaccine against Covid-19 has shown "an average efficacy of 70 percent" in trials.

 

"This vaccine's efficacy and safety confirm that it will be highly effective against Covid-19 and will have an immediate impact on this public health emergency," AstraZeneca chief executive Pascal Soriot said in a statement. 

 

However the vaccine has produced lower average efficacy compared with coronavirus vaccines produced by rivals Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna which have come in above 90 percent.