Trials of two COVID-19 vaccines show signs of immunity

Two trials of COVID-19 vaccines conducted in the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States (US) have shown signs of immunity in the volunteers injected with experimental jabs.

The latest development has grown hopes for a working coronavirus vaccine as research teams of Oxford University – UK and an American pharmaceutical company Moderna claimed to get promising results in early experiments following the experimental jabs after months.

The scientists from Oxford University claimed that they were 80 per cent confident for having a jab available by September this year.

It emerged that the trials of the vaccine developed by Oxford scientists have developed antibodies and white blood cells called T cells in the volunteers to fight off the coronavirus after getting infected.

The researchers of Moderna, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, said all volunteers injected with experimental jabs have successfully developed antibodies.

The vaccines work by tricking the body into thinking it’s infected with Covid-19 and causing it to produce immune substances that have the ability to destroy it, reported Dailymail UK.

While early research focused on antibodies, scientists are increasingly turning to a type of immunity called T cell immunity — which is controlled by white blood cells — which has shown signs of promise.

It is noteworthy to mention here that Oxford’s trial is involving around 8,000 people across the Britain and also up to 6,000 people in Brazil and South Africa, where the jab may be easier to test because more people are infected with the coronavirus.

The vaccine is being manufactured by AstraZeneca, based in Cambridge, England, and millions of doses have already been ordered by Number 10 in the hope that it will work.