Oxford vaccine shows strong immune response in adults
The coronavirus vaccine developed by teams at the University of Oxford has been shown to trigger a robust immune response in healthy adults aged 56-69 and those over 70 years of age.
The findings published in ‘Lancet’ on Thursday based on 560 healthy adult volunteers shows that the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine is “safe and well tolerated” with a lower reactogenicity profile in older adults than in younger adults, meaning the older age groups could build immunity to the disease.
“These findings are encouraging because older individuals are at disproportionate risk of severe COVID-19 and so any vaccine adopted for use against SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) must be effective in older adults,” the researchers note.
The team is also testing whether the vaccine stops people developing COVID-19 in larger Phase 3 trials and early results from this crucial stage are expected in the coming weeks.
Pfizer, BioNTech propose vaccine plans for Brazil
Pharmaceutical company Pfizer and German laboratory BioNTech have proposed a plan for the Brazilian government on vaccination against the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the first half of 2021, the companies said in a statement.
“Pfizer made a proposal to the Brazilian government... that would permit the vaccination of millions of Brazilians in the first half, subject to regulatory approval,” the statement said.
The Brazilian authorities have already agreed to purchase vaccines from the UK’s AstraZeneca, China’s Sinovac, as well as from Russia.