Hopes Rise For Oxford Vaccine, Produce Immune Among Young, Old

The COVID-19 experimental vaccine, developed by the University of Oxford has been able to produce an immune response in both young and old adults, that raises high hopes to put an end to coronavirus pandemic.

The Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine is expected to be one of the first from one of the leading pharma to secure regulatory approval, along with Pfizer and BioNTech’s candidate.

“It is encouraging to see immunogenicity responses were similar between older and younger adults and that reactogenicity was lower in older adults, where the COVID-19 disease severity is higher,” an AstraZeneca spokesman said.

Vaccine called AZD1222 or ChAdOx1 nCoV-19, is made from an older and weakened version of a common cold virus that causes infections in chimpanzees.

However, it is not yet confirmed whether the vaccine would be able for mass treatment by end of the year. British Health Secretary Matt Hancock said that it is not his central expectation to rule out the vaccine by this year.

Unlikely, Staff at a London hospital trust have been told to be ready to receive the first batches of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, The Sun newspaper reported on Monday.