Scientists at Oxford University have said that their experimental coronavirus vaccine was shown in an initial trial to elicit a protective immune response in hundreds of people who received the vaccine.
Called AZD1222 and developed by AstraZeneca and scientists at the University of Oxford in the UK, the vaccine did not cause any serious side effects and elicited antibody and T-cell immune responses, according to results of the trial published in The Lancet medical journal on Monday. .
In the research, the scientists said they found that their experimental COVID-19 vaccine produced a dual immune response in people ages 18 to 55 that lasted at least two months after they were immunized.
“We are seeing a good immune response in almost everyone,” said Dr. Adrian Hill, director of the Jenner Institute at the University of Oxford.
“What this vaccine does particularly well is to trigger both arms of the immune system,” he said.
Hill said neutralizing antibodies are produced, molecules that are key to blocking the infection.
He said that larger trials evaluating the vaccine’s effectiveness are still underway, involving about 10,000 people in the UK, as well as participants in South Africa and Brazil. Another major test is slated to begin in the United States soon, with the goal of enrolling some 30,000 people.
Hope and caution
Paul Brennan of Al Jazeera, reporting from the city of Oxford, said progress seems hopeful but there are no guarantees In this point.
“TThe ideal vaccine should be effective after one or two doses, it should be good for older people and target participants, such as people with existing health conditions,
“It should also be effective over a period of more than six months and at this stage it is too early to say whether or not this vaccine meets those criteria,” he said.
Wafaa el-Sadr, professor of epidemiology and medicine at Columbia University also urged caution.
“This phase 1 and 2 study was done in a little over 1,000 participants. Sometimes, it really takes studying in a much larger population to see the rare side effects,” he told Al Jazeera.
“I think it is important to underline that we cannot let our guard down yet as we do not have a vaccine on hand, and in the foreseeable future, we will have to continue to take care to comply with public health measures that can prevent the transmission of this virus. “
More research is needed
How quickly scientists can determine the vaccine’s effectiveness will largely depend on how much transmission there is, but Hill estimated they might have enough data by the end of the year to decide whether the vaccine should be adopted for mass vaccination campaigns.
Hill said that Oxford has partnered with drug maker AstraZeneca to produce its vaccine globally, and that the company has already committed to making two billion doses.
“There was hope that if we had a vaccine fast enough, we could turn off the pandemic,” Hill said, noting the continued increase in infections worldwide.
“I think it will be very difficult to control this pandemic without a vaccine.”
AstraZeneca is among the top vaccine candidates for a pandemic that has killed more than 600,000, along with others in intermediate and late-stage trials.
AstraZeneca has signed agreements with governments around the world to supply the vaccine if it is effective and gets regulatory approval.
The company has said it will not seek to take advantage of the vaccine during the pandemic.
SOURCE:
Al Jazeera and news agencies
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