An experimental coronavirus vaccine triggered an immune response against COVID-19 in study participants, and it has only minor side effects, according to new data …
An experimental coronavirus vaccine triggered an immune response against COVID-19 in study participants, and it has only minor side effects, according to new data published in the medical journal, the Lancet.
The vaccine, called AZD1222 for now, is being developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca. It uses a different, harmless virus to deliver biological instructions for how to fight off the coronavirus.
According to a Phase I/II study of more than 1,000 patients, the vaccine triggered two immune responses: an increase in antibodies and a T-cell response, according to the study.
This, scientists say, is a good sign.
“So far, everything we’ve seen has been encouraging,” says Naor Bar-Zeev, deputy director of the International Vaccine Access Center at Johns Hopkins University. He was not involved with this study. And he said, there have not been any severe reactions.
Reported reactions were more common among patients who received the coronavirus vaccine than those who received the control, which was a meningitis vaccine. They included muscle ache, chills and feeling feverish. But acetaminophen relieved those symptoms, the researchers wrote.
Study enrollment took place between April 23 and May 21 of this year, and included 1,077 participants from 18 to 55 years old who had not previously tested positive for COVID-19.
