Oxford COVID-19 Vaccine Trial: Coronavirus Vaccine is Safe, Induces an Immune Response, Scientists Say

Oxford COVID-19 Vaccine Trial: The coronavirus vaccine created by the University of Oxford appears safe and has demonstrated a protective immune response in hundreds of people who received the vaccine in an early trial, scientists announced Monday after the first phase of human trials.

British researchers involved in the Oxford COVID-19 vaccine trial began testing the Coronavirus vaccine in April this year on approximately 1,000 people. Half of these volunteers received the experimental vaccine, according to an AP report. These early trials are generally designed only to assess safety, but in this case, experts were also looking to see what kind of immune response was triggered, the report added.

In research published Monday in The Lancet, scientists said they found that their experimental COVID-19 vaccine produced a dual immune response in people ages 18 to 55. “We are seeing a good immune response in almost everyone,” said Dr. Adrian Hill, director of the Jenner Institute at the University of Oxford, told the Associated Press.

He added that the vaccine activates both arms of the immune system, adding that it also produces neutralizing antibodies, the molecules that are key to blocking infection.

Results during the Oxford COVID-19 vaccine trial show that it induces strong antibody and T-cell immune responses up to 56 days after administration. The report says that T cells are crucial to maintaining protection against the virus for years.

Although the findings are considered promising, experts still believe it is too early to know whether this is enough to offer protection as larger trials are conducted. The PTI quoted Professor Sarah Gilbert, co-author of the study, as saying that there is still a lot of work to be done before it can be confirmed that the Oxford vaccine can help control the COVID-19 pandemic. She added that these first results are promising.

One of the world’s leading Covid-19 vaccine candidates, the University of Oxford vaccine in collaboration with AstraZeneca today released initial data and findings on the vaccine’s effectiveness. The vaccine candidate, who was one of the first candidates to have reached the clinical trial stage, is in phase 3 of clinical trials at this time somewhere in Brazil.

Earlier this month, makers of the vaccine called AZD1222 had said they were excited about the affirmative findings and the result of initial human trials. They had also said that the results of phase 1 of the human trials would be released in late July. More than 100 vaccines are being developed in different countries to help the world get rid of the Covid-19 pandemic. Many vaccine candidates are also reported to be in the human testing stage, while some of them are in the initial animal testing stage.

In addition to the candidate vaccine from Oxford University, the other vaccines that promise an early advance include the United States vaccine Moderna Inc, which is expected to begin the third and final phase of human trials on July 27. Russia’s candidate vaccine, which has reportedly accelerated vaccine development, has also shown encouraging results. Earlier last week, the Russian military hospital had discharged 18 volunteers who had participated in the first phase of the vaccine’s human trial after keeping them under observation for nearly a month.

India has also started the clinical trial of its candidate vaccine Covaxin. The first phase of human trials will be conducted at AIIMS, New Delhi, AIIMS Patna and the Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Rohtak, with a total of 350 volunteers spread across the three hospitals. AIIMS New Delhi is expected to implement human trials as soon as it has obtained approval from its Ethics committee to begin the procedure.