Coronavirus Vaccine: UK Scientists ‘very positive’ after Trials with Two Doses

New COVID-19 vaccine shows great promise. image- Pixebay

After a study in pigs, it was found that two doses of a coronavirus vaccine made by UK researchers produced a greater antibody response than a single dose.

THE technical name for the drug is ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 (also known as the AZD1222) vaccine and was developed by the University of Oxford.

The drug is currently undergoing human trials and it is hoped an effective vaccine could be ready later this year. Previous research indicated that macaques were protected against lung disease after a single immunisation.

Now the Pirbright Institute, working with the University of Oxford, has shown that two doses of the Covid-19 vaccine might produce a greater immune response in pigs and therefore be a more effective approach to developing a protective response.

Professor Bryan Charleston, director of the Pirbright Institute, said: “These results look encouraging that administering two injections with the same vaccine boosts antibody responses that can neutralise the virus, but it is the response in humans that is important.

“The pig has proved to be a valuable model for testing human vaccines for other diseases to give an indication of the type of immune response induced and testing different doses.

“Pigs are more physiologically similar to humans than some other animal models – for example, their body weight and metabolic rate – and are more accessible than studies using non-human primates.”

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Tony Winterburn

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