A volunteer receives an injection at the Chris Hani Baragwanath hospital in Soweto, Johannesburg, as part of Africa's first participation in a coronavirus vaccine trial developed at the University of Oxford in Britain in conjunction with the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca.
Oxford-AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine, one of the leading vaccine candidates out there and undergoing final stage phase 3 clinical trials, is producing immune response in young and old adults. To be called Covishield ones it is officially registered and approved, the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine candidate is undergoing trials in various countries and is being expected to be launched early next year.
Besides producing immune response, the vaccine has also triggered lower adverse responses among old people.
According to Reuters, an AstraZeneca spokesman said, "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."
ALSO READ | Covaxin, Bharat Biotech's coronavirus vaccine, gets DCGI approval to conduct phase 3 clinical trials
The Oxford vaccine candidate Phase I and II results proved positive as they showed that the vaccine induced strong antibody and T-cell immune responses for up to 56 days after they were given.
T-cells are crucial for maintaining protection against the virus for years.
During the study, participants who received the vaccine had detectable neutralising antibodies, which have been suggested by researchers as important for protection, and these responses were strongest after a booster dose, with 100 per cent of participants' blood having neutralising activity against the coronavirus.
The next step in studying any vaccine is to confirm that it can effectively protect against coronavirus infection.
According to the Oxford University scientists, of the hundreds of potential COVID-19 vaccines in development, six are in the final stages of testing, known as phase three clinical trials.
ALSO READ | Vaccine nationalism will not shorten COVID pandemic, warns WHO chief
