Oxford’s Coronavirus Vaccine Appears Safe but More Research Needed

The closely watched covid-19 vaccine trial at oxford university is beginning to generate promising results.
It’s one of only three vaccine trials to make it to phase 3 of clinical trials. The vaccine trial included 1,077 people age 18 to 55 with no history of coronavirus infection and took place in five UK hospitals from late April to late May. All of the participants in the trial who got the vaccine saw an antibody and t-cell response to the drug. Oxford and its partner AstraZeneca say they are optimistic and have already begun planning for large scale distribution.  Researchers say “the immune system has two ways of finding and attacking pathogens, antibody and t-cell responses. This vaccine is intended to induce both, so it can attack the virus when it’s circulating in the body, as well as attacking infected cells. oxford vaccine expert Adrian Hill added that the team is looking at trying both one and two doses in phase 3 participants and AstraZeneca says it has secured capacity to produce 2 billion doses.