Promising UK and Chinese Covid-19 vaccine projects

Two Covid-19 vaccine projects, one British and the other Chinese, were shown to be safe for patients and elicited a significant immune response, according to results of clinical trials published Monday in The Lancet medical journal.

The first, developed by the University of Oxford in association with AstraZeneca, generated “a strong immune response” in a trial of more than 1,000 patients, and the second, supported by Cansino Biologics, caused a strong antibody reaction in another trial in the Most of the approximately 500 participants, according to the magazine.

The clinical trials are still in a preliminary phase (phase 1/2 and phase 2), and their efficacy has yet to be established in a phase 3 trial, on a larger number of participants, before considering their production ion on a large scale.

Despite this, these results were highly anticipated, as numerous researchers and laboratories around the world are waging a race against the clock to find a safe and effective vaccine against Covid-19.

“If our vaccine were to prove effective, it is a promising option, as this type of vaccine can easily be manufactured on a large scale,” said Sarah Gilbert, a researcher at the University of Oxford.

Oxford’s vaccine, like CanSino’s, is based on a modified adenovirus, which does not replicate, making them safer especially for the most fragile patients

Neither of the two trials generated serious undesirable effects. The most observed side effects were fever, fatigue, and pain at the injection site of the vaccine.