As competition heats up to provide the world with an effective COVID-19 vaccine, new research has revealed Oxford University and AstraZeneca’s potential vaccine candidate is producing promising results in older people.
According to latest updates from Oxford, late-stage human trials of their vaccine have shown it develops antibody and t-cell responses in patients over 70, potentially allowing the population’s most vulnerable demographic to build “robust immunity” to the deadly virus.
Full trial results are expected to be known by Christmas.
However, Oxford Vaccine Group’s director, Andrew Pollard said it was too early to tell how well the vaccine would work in actually preventing COVID-19.
“We haven’t quite got to that point yet. We’re obviously not going to rush that,” he told BBC radio, but added that scientists were “getting close”.
Meanwhile, two other companies have this week staked their claims for an effective COVID-19 vaccine.
Pharmaceutical behemoth, Pfizer revealed interim results which it said suggest its COVID-19 vaccine was 95% effective in preventing coronavirus.
Another company, Moderna made the same claim, saying its vaccine candidate had proved 95% effective in interim trials.
Australia has secured 33.8 million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, should trials prove successful. The government has also inked a deal to have the vaccine produced in Melbourne.
