CORONAVIRUS: UK Scientists recruit ‘very healthy’ over-55s for next stage of vaccine testing

The Oxford University Vaccine trial is recruiting  ‘very healthy’ over-55s for the next stage of testing

THE Oxford University vaccine group has said that the next phase of testing for a coronavirus vaccine will focus on how older adults’ immune systems respond.

The director of the group, professor Andrew Pollard, said the first phase of the testing looked at the vaccine’s safety in people under 55.

“The next steps will now look at whether older adults have a similar immune response, that will involve recruiting “very healthy individuals” for the trials, he said.

“There are two groups, the first are those over the age of 55, and they are divided into those being 55 and 70, and those who are over 70.

“And in that group we are looking very closely at immune responses, particularly in the oldest adults where often immune responses are a bit weaker (than) in younger adults.”

He said the second group of 10,000 frontline workers will also participate in the study. If trials prove successful in then up to 30 million doses for the UK could be available by September.