Oxford COVID-19 Vaccine Produces Strong Immune Response in Older Adults

The COVID-19 vaccine created by AstraZeneca has reaped strong immune responses in adults from 56 to 69 years old and people over the age of 70, as announced by the University of Oxford.

The findings published by the "Lancet" on November 19 and based on 560 healthy adult volunteers displayed that the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine is safe and well-tolerated with a lower reactogenicity profile in older adults compared to younger adults. It means the older age groups can build immunity to the illness.

According to the University of Oxford scientists, they seek to have the novel coronavirus vaccine results by Christmas. They also confirmed that regulators are initiating a so-called "rolling review" to hasten the process.

Prof. Sarah Gilbert, the lead researcher of Oxford's vaccine development program, remarked that the team had been in talks with many regulators to provide the information to evaluate before Oxford produces a last clinical data set, reported Telegraph.

The threshold for coronavirus vaccines had been set high by Moderna and Pfizer recently, and it reportedly appears that the Oxford/AstraZeneca candidate would reach a similar achievement.

Hopes have been raised that the United Kingdom can manufacture its successful COVID-19 vaccine after data from the university exhibited that its jab induces a strong immune response in older people. This age group is most susceptible to severe illness and death from COVID-19 in the same way as younger people.

COV002 is a multi-center, blinded, randomized, and controlled Phase II/III trial among 12,390 participants in Britain. The Phase II trial showed that participants aged 18 years or over are randomized to be administered either one or two standard or low doses through intramuscular injection.

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According to Maheshi Ramasamy, a consultant and co-lead investigator at the Oxford Vaccine Group, "The robust antibody and T-cell responses seen in older people in our study are encouraging," reported Channel News Asia.

As suggested by the phase one and phase two results, one of the groups most susceptible to serious illness or death from COVID-19 could build immunity, according to data published by the medical journal.

The results arrived a day after Pfizer declared its vaccine was 94 percent effective among adults beyond 65 years old in its final efficacy results. It would be seeking authorization in the course of a few days.

Older people are at a disproportionate vulnerability to severe COVID-19 illness, so any vaccine adopted for use must be effective in this age group.

The early-stage results were described as "promising."

The Phase II trial data are consistent with the Phase I data reported for healthy adults between 18 and 55 early this year. According to Dr. Maheshi Ramasamy, an investigator at the Oxford Vaccine Group and consultant physician, "Older adults are a priority group for COVID-19 vaccination, because they are at increased risk of severe disease, but we know that they tend to have poorer vaccine responses," reported Oxford Vaccine Group.