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- AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine triggers an immune response in older people and young adults, the drugmaker said Monday.
- “Immunogenicity responses were similar between older and younger adults,” said an AstraZeneca spokesperson.
- The vaccine, which is being developed with the University of Oxford, is one of the world’s leading Covid-19 vaccine candidates.
- This does not necessarily mean that the vaccine is safe and effective, but it is promising news, as the immune system weakens as a person ages.
- Visit the Business Insider home page for more stories.
AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine elicits an immune response in older people, the drugmaker said Monday.
This does not necessarily mean that the vaccine, which is being developed together with the University of Oxford, is safe and effective in older people, but it is promising news, as the immune system weakens as a person ages.
AstraZeneca also said that “reactogenicity,” expected adverse reactions to the virus, which commonly include arm pain or swelling, was lower in older people than in younger ones.
An AstraZeneca spokesperson told Business Insider: “It is encouraging to see that immunogenicity responses were similar between older and younger adults and that reactogenicity was lower in older adults, where the severity of Covid-19 disease is greatest.”
“The results further build the body of evidence for the safety and immunogenicity of AZD1222,” the name of the vaccine, the spokesperson added.
The drug makers’ statement came on Monday after the Financial Times reported that the vaccine, one of the world’s leading candidates, triggers protective antibodies and T cells in older people, citing two people familiar with the trial data. .
The findings come from blood tests performed on a subset of older participants in the vaccine trials. Details of the results are expected to be published in a clinical journal, the FT said.
These results are compared with data published in July that showed the vaccine produced immune responses in a group of healthy adults between the ages of 18 and 55, the FT reported.
The findings come after the Food and Drug Administration allowed AstraZeneca on Friday to resume its vaccine trials in the United States after a participant reported a “serious adverse reaction” on September 6.
The coronavirus has killed more than 1.15 million people around the world.
With dozens of candidate vaccines in late-stage clinical trials, including that of AstraZeneca, hope remains that a safe and effective vaccine will be developed before the end of the year.
White House coronavirus adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci said in an interview with the BBC on Sunday: “We will know if a vaccine is safe and effective by late November, early December.”
Fauci added: “The question is: once you have a safe and effective vaccine, or more than one, how can you get it to the people who need it as quickly as possible?”
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