AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine raises hope of effective cure

AstraZeneca and a group of British scientists have shown that experimental COVID-19 vaccine is safe and effective.

The trial results of the vaccine were contained in a recent publication from the Lancet medical journal.

The vaccine, known as AZD1222, produced an immune response in early-stage clinical trials in healthy volunteers, according to the data.

AstraZeneca and scientists at Britain’s University of England made up the team working to develop the AZD1222 vaccine, which has given a result of no serious effects and elicited anti-body and T-cell immune responses.

Study lead author from the University of Oxford, Andrew Pollard, said there was hope that success recorded in the clinical trial will enable the immune system to remember the virus, and as such the vaccine will protect people for an extended period.

“However, we need more research before we can confirm the vaccine effectively protects against SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) infection, and for how long any protection lasts,” he said.

AstraZeneca’s vaccine stands to be among the likely first successful vaccines against the pandemic that has recorded nearly 15 million cases and killed more than 610,000 people worldwide.

Other vaccine candidates in the race have got to mid and late stages in their various trials, including shots being developed by China’s Sinovac Biotech, Sinopharm, and another from the US-based biotech firm Morderna.

Many countries across the world have also shown interest in the supply of the AstraZeneca’s vaccine in the event that it proves effective and gets regulatory approval by health authorities.

AstraZeneca company has said it will not seek to profit from the vaccine during the pandemic.

There are, however, minor side effects more frequently than a control group from the vaccine, though paracetamol can be used to reduce some of these effects, according researchers.