Covid: Oxford vaccine trial shows “promising” results

"There is still much work to be done, but these early results hold promise", said Professor Sarah Gilbert, co-author of the study.

The University of Oxford published Phase 1 trial result of the Covid vaccine, defining it as “very encouraging“. It was found also that the vaccine is “safe“.

The Oxford vaccine against Covid

Phase 1 and Phase 2 trial demonstrated low side effects, while developing strong immune response. Professor Sarah Gilber, study co-author, declared: “There is still much work to be done before we can confirm if our vaccine will help manage the COVID-19 pandemic. These early results hold promise. As well as continuing to test our vaccine in phase 3 trials, we need to learn more about the virus. For example, we still do not know how strong an immune response we need to provoke to effectively protect against SARS-CoV-2 infection.”

Then she added: “A successful vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 could be used to prevent infection, disease and death. With high risk populations such as hospital workers and older adults prioritised to receive vaccination.”

Many volunteers for the trial

The Phase 1 of the trial started in April with 1000 adult volunteers. At this moment, 10 000 volunteers joined the second and third phase. Among those people aged from 5 years to more than 70 years old.

At the beginning of Phase 2 in May, Professor Andrew Pollard, head of the Oxford Vaccine Group, commented the trial. “The clinical studies are progressing very well and we are now initiating studies to evaluate how well the vaccine induces immune responses in older adults, and to test whether it can provide protection in the wider population. We are very grateful to the huge support of the trial volunteers in helping test whether this new vaccine could protect humans against the pandemic coronavirus“, he said.

Inside NHS website, it is possible to sing up into the registry for volunteers. UK strongly suggested people to enroll in order to join vital studies that could help save lives . You can find the site to register here. The goal is to reach the number of 500,000 people by October. Just two weeks ago, UK has opted out the European Union Covid vaccine programme.