The coronavirus pandemic has not exactly yielded much in the method of great news. But now a trial into an experimental Covid-19 vaccine is providing us one factor to be hopeful.
WIRED UK
This story originally appeared on WIRED UK
Results from a group at the University of Oxford show that its vaccine– co-developed with the pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca– is safe in people and provokes an immune response. While this is a long method from being a fully working vaccine, it’s an appealing, and important, initial step towards getting one.
Here’s whatever you require to know about the Oxford study, and what it implies for the future of Covid-19 vaccines.
What’s the bright side?
The Oxford group found that its vaccine provoked an immune reaction and didn’t produce any severe side effects. The vaccine triggered neutralising antibodies– the kind that defends cells versus attack from infection– in a minimum of nine out of 10 of those who had a single dose of the vaccine. The immune reaction peaked 28 days after the vaccine, but remained high until day 56, which was the last day covered by this scientific paper. The study is still continuous.
The results are from a study involving 1,077 healthy grownups aged between 18 and55 Half of the participants got the new Covid-19 vaccine, while the other half– the control group– received a vaccine versus a bacterial infection. No severe side effects were reported, around 70 percent of participants developed either a fever or a headache, although this was lower in a sub-group of individuals who took a paracetamol around the very same time they had the vaccination.
At this phase, the study can’t tell us whether people who have the vaccine are protected versus contracting Covid-19, however it doe