10/26/2020 8:08 AM
Clarín.com
Society
Updated 10/26/2020 8:09 AM
The coronavirus vaccine developed by the University of Oxford, in collaboration with the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca,
generates a strong immune response among the elderly
, the most vulnerable group, as well as among the young, according to the pharmaceutical company on Monday.
The clinical trials of this vaccine are in
phase 3
, the last one before knowing exactly if it is safe and if it allows to protect the population from the disease, after which it will need the approval of the regulators before proceeding with a massive vaccination .
As the
Financial Times
newspaper learned
from two people familiar with these studies, the vaccine generates antibodies and so-called T cells among the elderly (whose main purpose is to identify and kill invading pathogens or infected cells).
Age is the main risk factor for covid-19 since the immune system weakens over time, so this group is the one that will most need protection against the coronavirus.
Researchers, according to Financial, are encouraged by the immune response generated by the vaccine among older people. Results from the first clinical trials of the Oxford vaccine, published last July, already indicated that it generates antibodies and T cells.
Details of the latest findings are expected to be published soon in a medical journal, the journal added.
Argentina is among the countries that signed an agreement to obtain the vaccine once it is approved.
Photo: Reuter.
"If they have data that shows that the vaccine generates good immunity, measured in the laboratory, in the group of more than 55 years, and that includes a good response in people who are much older, I think that
is a promising sign
," he said to the journal Jonathan Ball, professor of virology at the English University of Nottingham.
In August, the European Union (EU) closed a first contract with AstraZeneca that guarantees access to 300 million doses, a pact that was signed on behalf of the Member States and the doses will be distributed according to the population of each country.
In addition to the EU contract with AstraZeneca, the governments of
Argentina and Mexico
, as well as the Mexican Slim Foundation, reached an agreement with the pharmaceutical company and Oxford to manufacture the vaccine destined for their countries and then distribute it to the rest of Latin America, except Brazil.
In addition to the United Kingdom, clinical trials have been developed in the United States, Brazil and South Africa.
The trials have not been without problems.
In September, the tests were resumed after being interrupted for a short time by an adverse reaction suffered by a volunteer.
In addition, a volunteer recently died in Brazil, a case of which no further details were given, but which, according to the media, this person would have received a placebo and not the vaccine.
EFE
With information from EFE.
JPE
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