Pascal Soriot knows how to make a headline. The AstraZeneca PLC chief executive officer gave a rare interview to the BBC to mark the opening of a ?1 billion ($1.3 billion) research facility in Cambridge. But he couldn¡¯t resist a little plug for his vaccine, too.
¡°If you look at the U.K., there was a big peak of infections but not so many hospitalizations relative to Europe,¡± he said. His suggestion ¡ª made in dulcet tones and bracketed with the caveat that more research needs to be done ¡ª is that the AstraZeneca vaccine offers more longer-term effectiveness against serious illness than rival jabs produced by Pfizer Inc. and Moderna Inc. In other words, Britain¡¯s home-grown jab is the reason the country is faring better with the latest COVID-19 wave than Europe.
Only it¡¯s not that simple.
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