Oxford’s COVID-19 Vaccine Produces Strong Immune Response

Sep, 2020 - By SMI

The initial human trial data suggest that there are no serious adverse effects from Oxford’s COVID-19 vaccine.

The novel coronavirus quickly transformed from a local outbreak to a pandemic and has made its way to almost every corner of the world. As the disease continues to wreak havoc in health care systems across the globe, a myriad of strategies is currently being tested to combat COVID-19. Many Pharma companies and research Institutes across the globe are trying to develop the COVID-19 vaccine. Though antiviral drugs, convalescent plasma treatment, and contact tracing are important targets, without an effective antiviral or vaccine people cannot expect normalcy. Moreover, more than 155 promising coronavirus vaccine candidates are currently at the different stages of the development.

However, human trials of many current drugs have not yet shown effects against the novel coronavirus. The University of Oxford has developed a potential COVID-19 vaccine named ChAdOx1 nCoV-19. So far, the vaccine is safe and induces strong immune responses needed to protect against the novel coronavirus. Moreover, the vaccine has been renamed from ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 to AZD1222. The AZD1222 is a weakened and non-replicating version of a common cold virus. The experimental vaccine has shown very good results in animal trials.

Initial human trial results have been published in The Lancet journal. The data suggest that there are no serious adverse effects from the vaccine, although more than half of individuals show mild to moderate side effects such as fatigue, fever, and injection site pain. However, all of them were resolved within 48 hours of treatment. The vaccine produced strong T-cell and antibody responses in all participants with neutralizing antibodies detected in 91% of individuals one month after a single dose of the vaccine. Moreover, individuals with booster dose showed even stronger antibody responses. Currently, Oxford’s COVID-19 vaccine is in the third phase of the human trial.