Oxford COVID Vaccine Raises Hopes, Prompts Immune Response Among Young And Old
One of the world's leading COVID-19 experimental vaccines produced an immune response in both young and old adults, raising hopes of a path out of the gloom and economic destruction brought on by the novel coronavirus.?
Hopes rise for Oxford vaccine
This could potentially be seen as a game-changer in the battle against the novel coronavirus, which has infected more than 43 million people worldwide, killed more than 1.15 million people, hammered the global economy and shuttered normal life across the world.
The COVID-19 vaccine being developed by the University of Oxford?also triggered?protective antibodies and T-cells,?lowering adverse responses among the elderly, AstraZeneca, which is helping manufacture the vaccine, said on Monday.?
What?AstraZeneca said?
¡°It is encouraging to see immunogenicity responses were similar between older and younger adults and that reactogenicity was lower in older adults, where the COVID-19 disease severity is higher,¡± an AstraZeneca spokesman said.
¡°The results further build the body of evidence for the safety and immunogenicity of AZD1222,¡± the spokesman said, referring to the technical name of the vaccine.
The Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine is expected to be one of the first from big pharma to secure regulatory approval, along with Pfizer and BioNTech's candidate, as the world tries to plot a path out of the COVID-19 pandemic.??
AstraZeneca did not provide details of the data behind the statement or say when it would publish eagerly awaited late-stage phase-three trial data, which would show whether the vaccine works well enough in large-scale trials for it to be approved.
UK preparing for possible rollout in 2021
British Health Secretary Matt Hancock said a vaccine was not yet ready, but he was preparing logistics for a possible roll-out mostly in the first half of 2021.
Asked if some people could receive a vaccine this year, he told the BBC: "I don¡¯t rule that out but that is not my central expectation.?The programme is progressing well [but] we¡¯re not there yet," Hancock said.
AstraZeneca, which is developing the vaccine with Oxford University researchers, is seen as a frontrunner in the race to produce a vaccine to protect against COVID-19.
