There is work proceeding on over 100 vaccines for COVID-19, and according to the World Health Organization, 23 of them are presently undergoing trials. There are notable updates reported over the past few days.
On Monday, The Lancet reported on AstraZeneca’s vaccine progress at Oxford University in England, with an interesting immune response in an early-stage trial with over 1,000 participants. Oxford’s Andrew Pollard explained that they used genetic material from the coronavirus and combined it with a modified adenovirus (one that causes infections in chimpanzees). It is designed to induce both antibody and T-cell responses, “so it can attack the virus when it’s circulating in the body, as well as attacking infected cells. We hope this means the immune system will remember the virus, so that our vaccine will protect people for an extended period.” AstraZeneca has already signed a contract with Russia’s R-Pharm to produce their vaccine for export to more than 30 countries in the Middle East, the Balkans and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).
