The Oxford vaccine has showed signs of generating immune responses in the human body according to the initial studies. This is very positive news as the world is racing to find a vaccine for the pandemic. The phase one trials showed that the body immune response from the vaccine with no side effects.
The study has determined that the vaccines is safe to use and now can proceed to further trials to establish its efficacy. The study which was published in the medico journal Lancet said that it used prototype of an adenovector virus to generate immune response in the body.
How the Vaccine works?
The vaccine triggers the immune system of the body to generate a response towards the virus through generation of antibodies. It the antibodies fail to eliminate the virus the immune response generate T-cells which search for the virus throughout the body and destroying the infected cells. Majority of the vaccine developers are using the same process to make the body self sufficient in fighting the virus.
Immunity Lifespan
One of the major concerns is of the lifespan of antibodies in the body. Recently, a study conducted on 90 subjects found out that nearly 83% of the people had lost the antibodies against coronavirus after 94 days. There is also a concern that even if a vaccine comes, it may provide short term immunity and people may have to take it annually like the Flu vaccine.
Though the signs are promising there is still a long way to go with large scale trials awaited in phase 3. Even if the vaccine is successful delivering it to over 7 billion people within a short time is still a challenge and we must not celebrate early as there is still a long way to go.
