Oxford University's team 'absolutely on track', coronavirus vaccine likely to be available by September
Oxford University's coronavirus vaccine trial team is 'absolutely on track' and the vaccine could be available as early as September, David Carpenter, Chairman of the Berkshire Research Ethics Committee, which approved the Oxford trial has said.
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Oxford University's coronavirus vaccine trial team is 'absolutely on track' and the vaccine could be available as early as September, David Carpenter, Chairman of the Berkshire Research Ethics Committee, which approved the Oxford trial has said. This comes as a big breakthrough in the fight against coronavirus. 'The Lancet' medical journal has confirmed that it would be publishing early-stage human trial data from the Oxford team on Monday.
"Nobody can put final dates... things might go wrong but the reality is that by working with a big pharma company, that vaccine could be fairly widely available around September and that is the sort of target they are working on," David Carpenter said.
Researchers at the University of Oxford believe they may have a breakthrough in their search for a COVID-19 vaccine after the team discovered that the jab could provide "double protection" against the deadly coronavirus following early-stage human trials, according to media reports in the UK.
Blood samples taken from a group of UK volunteers given a dose of the vaccine showed that it stimulated the body to produce both antibodies and "killer T-cells", a senior source from the trial was quoted by 'The Daily Telegraph' as saying.
The discovery is promising because separate studies have suggested that antibodies may fade away within months while T-cells can stay in circulation for years.
"I can tell you that we now know the Oxford vaccine covers both bases – it produces both a T cell and an antibody response. It's the combination of these two that will hopefully keep people safe. So far, so good. It's an important moment. But we still have a long way to go," the source said.
Another source close to the team described the presence of both antibodies and T-cells as a "double defence" against COVID-19.
The vaccine, named ChAdOx1 nCoV-19, is based on a weakened version of the common cold that causes infections in chimpanzees. It also contains the genetic material of the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 – the strain of coronavirus that causes the COVID-19 illness.
The Oxford University vaccine is one of more than 100 in development as the novel coronavirus continues to spread – infecting more than 13 million people and killing at least 582,000 worldwide.