By Elishya Perera
LONDON (CWBN)_ The experimental COVID-19 vaccine developed by the University of Oxford is reported to produce positive immune responses in both young adults and elderly volunteers participating in the Phase III trial.
The fact that the vaccine prompts an immune responses among the elderly is an important factor since the immune system weakens with age and older people are those most at risk of dying from the Coronavirus.
Multinational drug manufacturer, AstraZeneca Plc, which is helping manufacture the vaccine, also announced yesterday (Oct 26), that the vaccine also triggers less adverse responses among the elderly.
This raises hopes for a path out of the global pandemic, which has disrupted lives and livelihoods across the globe, killing more than 1.16 million people.
“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.
Work began on the Oxford vaccine, called AZD1222 or ChAdOx1 nCoV-19, in January, and AstraZeneca has concluded the first agreements for at least 400 million doses. The Company has total capacity sourced for one billion doses through 2020 and into 2021.
British Health Secretary Matt Hancock said a vaccine was not yet ready but arrangements are being made for a possible roll out mostly in the first half of 2021. “The programme is progressing well, (but) we’re not there yet,” he said.
However, AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine trails hit a serious snag after two volunteers from the UK were reported to have suffered neurological complications after which testing was temporarily suspended in the UK, India, US, South Africa and Brazil. The US suspensions were lifted by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) about four days ago while trials elsewhere resumed about two week after the incidents were first reported.
More recently, it was reported that a 28 year old male participant died, however, it was later revealed that the volunteer was not administered the trial vaccine, rather was placed in the placebo group. As the race for a suitable vaccine grows in demand, safety testing and development that generally takes years to complete effectively, have been concluded in a matter of months, has some experts questioning the safety of vaccines expected to hit the markets in early 2021.
The United Kingdom is among the nations severely affected by the second wave of the virus in Europe. Government figures show more than 890,000 confirmed cases so far in the UK, and nearly 45,000 people have died.
USA has reported the highest number of cases globally, with more than 8.96 million infections, and 1.16 million deaths, followed by India, reporting 7.94 confirmed cases and 119,000 fatalities.
Edited By Chathushka Perera
