Oxford’s Covid-19 Vaccine Is Safe And Induces Strong Antibody Response In Test Subjects

The data from an early-stage human trial vaccine to combat SARS-CoV-2 (Novel Coronavirus) developed by scientists at UK's Oxford University reveals that it is safe and induces strong antibody and T cell immune responses among the adult test subjects, medical journal The Lancet has reported.

As per the trial's phase-1 results which were published today (20 July), the vaccine induced strong antibody and T cell immune responses in all the 1,077 who participated in it. The immunity lasted up to day 56 of the ongoing trial The antibody response by adults may become even stronger after a second dose.

The vaccine also did not trigger any adverse side-effects and test subjects mostly complained of fatigue and headache - which can be mitigated by taking a paracetamol.

The vaccine named ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 has been developed via a genetically engineered virus which causes common cold in chimpanzees.

The scientists transferred the novel Coronavirus' spike protein to the vaccine to ensure that it resembles the virus which will help teach the human immune system how to attack it.

Researchers have advised that further studies especially involving older adults need to be performed to determine whether the vaccine effectively protects against an infection.