Oxford Covid vaccine that elicits an immune response in young and old: AstraZeneca

Oxford’s Covid-19 vaccine candidate vaccine elicits an immune response in both young adults and adults, AstraZeneca Plc said Monday. The Anglo-Swedish pharmacist is collaborating with the University of Oxford to manufacture its ChAdOx1 vaccine for coronavirus.

Earlier on October 22, Oxford University’s ‘Covishield’ Covid-19 vaccine clinical trials resumed globally after a “voluntary hiatus”. Clinical trials for the candidate vaccine are now ongoing in the US, UK, Brazil, South Africa, and Japan.

“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,” Reuters said, citing an AstraZeneca spokesperson. Monday.

Referring to the technical name of the Covid-19 vaccine candidate from the University of Oxford, the spokesperson added: “The results further build the body of evidence for the safety and immunogenicity of AZD1222.”

This development is being welcomed in the scientific community as it would mean that the candidate vaccine can invoke a similar response in both the young and the elderly. The immunity of people weakens with age, so the vaccine that elicits an immune response in elderly recipients is taken as a positive sign.

Oxford University started work on ‘Covishield’ in January this year. Also known as ‘AZD1222’ or ‘ChAdOx1 nCoV-19’, the candidate is a viral vector vaccine developed from a weakened version of a common cold virus found in chimpanzees.

The University of Oxford and AstraZeneca have also partnered with the Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII) to manufacture their vaccine. Chief Executive Officer Adar Poonawalla said on Oct. 23 that IBS is preparing 1 billion doses of five different coronavirus vaccines, including Oxford University’s Covishield.