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The COVID-19 vaccine developed by the University of Oxford produces a strong immune response in older adults, data from early trials have shown.
The results of phase one and phase two suggest that one of the groups most at risk of death or serious illness from COVID-19 can develop immunity, according to data published in the medical journal The Lancet.
It comes a day after Pfizer announced its coronavirus The vaccine was 94% effective among adults over 65 years of age. in your final efficacy results, and that it will seek authorization during the next few days.
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Vaccine success gives hope to those 65 and older
According to the authors of the Oxford vaccine findings, “The trial volunteers demonstrate similar neutralizing antibody titers and T cell responses in all three age groups (18-55, 56-79 and 70+).”
About 560 healthy adult volunteers participated in the phase two trials, where they were given either two doses of the candidate vaccine or a placebo.
No adverse health problems were reported during the trials, the report adds.
The University of Oxford says that in most vaccines, older adults tend not to be as well protected as younger adults, and antibodies induced by a vaccine often show less protective ability.
Dr Maheshi Ramasamy, Oxford Vaccine Group Researcher and Consultant Physician, said: “Older adults are a priority group for COVID-19 vaccination, because they have a higher risk of severe disease, but we know that they tend to have a higher vaccine. poor answers.
“We were pleased to see that our vaccine was not only well tolerated in older adults, but also stimulated immune responses similar to those seen in younger volunteers. The next step will be to see if this translates into protection against the disease itself.”
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Dr Angela Minassian, Oxford University researcher and honorary consultant in infectious diseases, said: “Inducing robust immune responses in older adults has been a long-standing challenge in human vaccine research.
“Demonstrating that the technology of this vaccine is capable of inducing these responses, in the age group most at risk of severe disease from COVID-19, offers hope that the efficacy of the vaccine will be similar in young and old adults.
Phase three trials of the Oxford / AstraZeneca jab, which will determine the efficacy of the vaccine, are still ongoing, with results expected in the coming weeks.
The UK government has ordered more than 100 million doses and expects the end results to be just as promising as Pfizer and the US firm. Modern, who have reported overall efficiencies of 95% and 94.5% respectively.
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Fauci: ‘I would take new vaccines’
Analysis: medical textbooks are being rewritten before our eyes
By Thomas Moore, Science Correspondent
For decades it has been a “rule” of vaccine science that the older a person is, the less their immune system will respond to a jab.
It’s called immunosenescence. Another drawback of aging.
But perhaps medical textbooks are being rewritten before our eyes.
The struggle to develop an effective vaccine against COVID-19 has accelerated the development of injections based on new genetic technologies.
And they are proving to be much better at generating an immune response in older people than expected.
The results of a recently published clinical trial of the Oxford vaccine are encouraging. It triggers an immune response that is just as good in those over 55 as it is in the youngest.
However, that is only based on an analysis of the levels of antibodies and T cells in blood samples.
It is not a real world protection against infection.
That’s the definitive proof for any vaccine and we won’t get that information until the Oxford / AstraZeneca team publishes the details of the final stage, the phase three trials, which could come at any time.
Pfizer / BioNTech have already shown that their vaccine is more than 94% effective in preventing COVID-19 in the elderly. That set a marker for the other vaccines.
Hopefully they match it. We will need every hit if we are to protect those most vulnerable to serious disease, and we have a chance to get back to normal by next fall.
