Oxford’s COVID vaccine safe and immunogenic: Study

LONDON: The findings of a study published in The Lancet journal suggest that a coronavirus vaccine candidate developed by the scientists at the Jenner Institute, University of Oxford, has demonstrated promising results in early human testing and appears to be “safe, well-tolerated, and immunogenic”. Trials involving 1,077 people have shown that the injection helped them to develop antibodies and white blood cells that can fight the coronavirus.

The researchers, led by Pedro M Folegatti and Katiet Ewer, wrote in the study that their preliminary findings demonstrate that despite of the higher reactogenicity than the control vaccine MenACWY, the candidate ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine, when given as a single dose, was safe and could be tolerated.

According to the findings of the study, 1,077 students were registered and assigned to receive ChAdOx1 nCoV-19, ten of which were enrolled in a prime boost group of non-randomized ChAdOx1 nCoV-19. Local and systemic reactions in the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 community were more frequent and many of them decreased with the use of prophylactic paracetamol such as pain, feverishness, chills, headache, muscle ache, headache, and malaise. No significant adverse events were reported in connection with ChAdOx1 nCoV-19. Spike-specific T-cell responses peaked during day 14 in the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 group. Anti-spike IgG reactions rose by day 28 and increased after a second dose. ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 showed an acceptable safety profile, and homologous boosting increased antibody responses, the study said.

The clinical trials of the potential COVID-19 vaccine on humans was conducted between April 23 and May 21 and the vaccine is made from a harmless chimpanzee virus.