Oxford vaccine chief fires back: ‘It’s not about herd immunity’

And Australia's premier science advocacy body agrees the current row over choice of vaccine misses the point
Professor Andrew Pollard.

The head of the Oxford Vaccine Group has defended its COVID-19 vaccine against Australian criticisms, saying discussions about herd immunity have distracted from the need to protect people from severe illness.

A debate has emerged over Australia’s plan to vaccine most people with the adenoviral vector COVID-19 vaccine developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca, with some doctors expressing concern that the reported overall efficacy rate of 70% is not enough to reach herd immunity.

But Professor Andrew Pollard, who led the clinical trials of the Oxford vaccine, told the ABC that Australia needed to ensure patients were protected from severe illness “as soon as possible”.

“There is going to be further transmission of the virus so we need populations to be protected.