Oxford University COVID-19 Vaccine Shows Positive Results In Early Trials; Could Be Out Soon

The pharma company AstraZeneca is collaborating with the research for manufacturing the vaccine on a large scale. AstraZeneca is also responsible for making this vaccine globally available if the vaccine passes the phases of trials.

Photo: AFP (Representative Image)

Oxford University’s group of scientists who are working on the COVID-19 vaccine say that the experiments of early-stage clinical trials have shown a positive result and produced an immune response in healthy volunteers.

The vaccine named ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 is made from a virus (ChAdOx1), which is a weakened version of a common cold virus (adenovirus) that causes infections in chimpanzees, that has been genetically changed so that it is impossible for it to replicate in humans.

According to the reports, the team at Oxford University has completed the Phase I of the human trials and is moving on to the next Phase. The pharma company AstraZeneca is collaborating with the research for manufacturing the vaccine on a large scale. AstraZeneca is also responsible for making this vaccine globally available if the vaccine passes the phases of trials.

Earlier this week, the researchers in the Oxford press release stated that they may have a breakthrough in their search for a COVID-19 vaccine after the team discovered that this vaccine can provide "double protection" against the deadly Coronavirus following early-stage human trials.

In fact, according to trial results published in The Lancet medical journal on Monday, scientists hold belief that Blood samples of the volunteers who were given a dose of the vaccine showed that it stimulated the body to produce both antibodies and "killer T-cells".

However, lead author Andrew Pollard of the University of Oxford also said that a lot more research needs to be done as of now before we can confirm the vaccine effectively protects against SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) infection, and for how long any protection lasts.

Around the globe there are over 200 vaccine candidates for Coronavirus. The Russian government has also claimed that the Coronavirus vaccine candidate that is soon going to enter phase 2 clinical trials will be made available to the general public before the trails are completed.

According to reports by Sputnik News, the Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko has said that the vaccine will be made available in the market before the third phase of the clinical trial for the vaccine is over.

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