Another day, another piece of vaccine news
A coronavirus vaccine developed by scientists at Oxford University has shown promising results in its treatment of people over 60, one of the most vulnerable groups when it comes to the virus.
The creators of the vaccine, which has just come through its second phase of testing – which focuses on safety – said that it is safe and works well in older people.
Phase three results for the vaccine, which will show its effectiveness at fighting the virus – particularly for those with underlying conditions – will be released in the coming weeks.
The positive news out of Oxford is just the latest in a stream of welcome announcements from scientists and researchers in the race for a vaccine to the virus which has brought the world to a halt since March.
In the past week, three vaccines – one by Pfizer/BioNTech, one by Moderna, and a third Russian-made vaccine – have published phase three results which have shown that each have an efficacy rate of more than 90 percent.
Dr Maheshi Ramasamy, one of the co-authors of the research paper at Oxford, said: “The robust antibody and T-cell responses seen in older people in our study are encouraging.
“The populations at greatest risk of serious Covid-19 disease include people with existing health conditions and older adults. We hope that this means our vaccine will help to protect some of the most vulnerable people in society, but further research will be needed before we can be sure.”
