The lead developer for the University of Oxford’s COVID-19 vaccine, Sarah Gilbert, has revealed that the vaccine could be rolled out by the end of the year but there is no certainty.
The Oxford experimental vaccine which is done in collaboration with AstraZeneca produced an immune response in early-stage clinical trials with no major side effect, according to data that was displayed on Monday. This development provides the hope that it could be in use before the end of the year.
According to report from Reuters, Sarah Gilbert in her discussion with BBC Radio said, ‘’The end of the year target for getting vaccine rollout, it’s a possibility but there’s absolutely no certainty about that because we need three things to happen.”
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Sarah Gilbert pointed out that it needed to be shown to work at the late-stage trials, there needed to be large quantities manufactured and regulators had to agree quickly to license it for emergency use.
“All of these three things have to happen and come together before we can start seeing large numbers of people vaccinated,” she said.
Backstory: Nairametrics yesterday reported that a vaccine trial for the COVID-19 disease by a joint team of University of Oxford researchers and pharmaceutical firm, AstraZeneca Plc showed strong immune response in early testings with humans.
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The trials also showed protective neutralization of antibodies and immune t-cells aimed at the virus. Oxford’s Chief of Jenner Institute, Adrian Hill, said the research has recorded good immune system responses with no serious side effect.
The Oxford scientists are hoping that 1 million doses of the potential COVID-19 vaccine would be produced by September this year.
Although the agreement had been reached with AstraZeneca for the manufacturing of the vaccine, the lower prevalence of the novel coronavirus in Britain has complicated the process of proving its efficacy.
Late-stage trials are currently going on in Brazil and South Africa and are due to start in the United States.
