Oxford’s Covid-19 vaccine candidate is safe

The coronavirus vaccine developed by the University of Oxford appears safe and triggers an immune response. The widely-followed trial is currently at an advanced stage, with trials in the UK, Brazil and South Africa.

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Key-Points

The vaccine – called ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 – is made from a genetically engineered virus that causes the common cold in chimpanzees.

The recent study showed 90 percent of involved people developed neutralising antibodies and T-cells that can fight coronavirus after one dose.

A collaboration has already been reached between Oxford, UK government and biopharma major AstraZeneca to produce the vaccine on a mass scale if the final results are also positive.

The Serum Institute of India is one of the global partners for its production.

When someone is infected with the Covid-19 virus, it spreads in the body easily because of the spikes on its surface, known as the ‘spike protein’, which allow the virus to penetrate cells and, thereafter, multiply.

The vaccine developed by Oxford and AstraZeneca, which belongs to a category called non-replicating viral vector vaccines, tries to build the body’s immunity against this spike protein.

The idea is to create antibodies to fight this spiked surface so that the virus does not even have the chance to penetrate the cells.