Oxford Covid-19 vaccine produces immune response across all ages - AstraZeneca

AstraZeneca said on Monday that the Covid-10 vaccine that is being developed by the University of Oxford triggers a similar immune response in people across different age groups, including the elderly.

“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 told Reuters.

“The results further build the body of evidence for the safety and immunogenicity of AZD1222,” the spokesman said.

According to the Financial Times, blood tests carried out on volunteers showed that the vaccine generated “robust immune responses” in people aged between 18 and 55.

The Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine is expected to be one of the first from big pharma to secure regulatory approval.

This may allow the world to return to some kind of normality as the second wave of the pandemic forces governments to implement restrictions once again.

The vaccine will likely provide protection for about a year, the company said in June.

UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock said he expects the vaccine to be ready for the first half of 2021.

At the weekend, Johnson&Johnson, who is working with AstraZenaca in the US, said the first batches of its shot could be ready to go in January.

The two companies also announced that they had been greenlighted to resume their late-stage clinical trial into the vaccine.