As the world scrambles to develop a vaccine against the deadly COVID-19, the vaccine developed at Oxford University has so far shown encouraging results.
As per a CNN report, the results of the Phase 1/2 trials of the said vaccine published in the famous journal The Lancet suggest that the vaccine developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca is safe and also shows an immune response.
As per the results published on Monday, the virus triggered an antibody response within 28 days and a T-cell response within 14 days. Antibody response and T-cell response are the two ways in which our immune system identifies and attacks pathogens.
In response to these early positive results, the report quoted University of Oxford pediatrician Dr. Andrew Pollard as saying, "The immune system has two ways of finding and attacking pathogens — antibody and T cell responses. This vaccine is intended to induce both, so it can attack the virus when it's circulating in the body, as well as attacking infected cells."
"We hope this means the immune system will remember the virus, so that our vaccine will protect people for an extended period. However, we need more research before we can confirm the vaccine effectively protects against SARS-CoV-2 infection, and for how long any protection lasts," Pollard further said.
Suggesting that further research is needed to determine the efficacy of the vaccine against the SARS Cov-2 virus, Stephen Evans, a professor of pharmacoepidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine reportedly said, "The key elements required to proceed to a Phase 3 trial are all there."
However, "it does not yet show that the disease is reduced or prevented, and this will not be easy to show until phase 3 trials have been completed in settings where the SARS Cov-2 virus is circulating at a high rate and people are getting clinical and severe disease," he added.
