Coronavirus (Covid-19) Vaccine Latest Update: Oxford jab fails to stop infection in animal trials; Thailand enters race

Coronavirus (Covid-19) Vaccine Latest Update: While the success of Moderna Inc with its Covid-19 vaccine has offered tentative hopes, reports of Oxford's vaccine not being able to prevent infection in monkeys has resulted in equal dejection.

By: Express Web Desk | New Delhi |Updated: May 21, 2020 6:13:45 pm

A health worker in full protective gear administers a vaccine to a baby at a community health center in Tangerang, Indonesia. (AP)

While the success of US biotechnology company Moderna Incwith its Covid-19vaccine has offered tentative hopes in the global effort to combat thepandemic, reports of University of Oxford’s candidate not being able to prevent infection in monkeys has resulted in equal dejection. This comes as a severe blow as Oxford University’s experimental vaccine — ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 — was one of the top contenders in the race.

While a vaccine to be ready for commercial use may still be far away, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, a Covid-19 survivor himself, has bluntly claimed that there might never be a jab for the novelcoronavirus despite the huge global effort. In a column in The Mail, Johnson wrote, “There remains a very long way to go and I must be frank that a vaccine might not come to fruition. We need to find new ways to control the virus.”

For Covid-19, there are over 100 vaccines being developed across the world now, some from scratch, some from existing molecules developed for other diseases.

Coronavirus (Covid-19) vaccine latest updates:

💉 The biggest news related to development of a vaccine this week has no doubt come from Moderna Inc, with its candidate — mRNA-1273 — showing signs that it can create an immune-system response to fend off the novel coronavirus. However, the reports were based on data from eight people who took part in a 45-subject safety trial.

Eight participants who received two doses of the vaccine — 25 and 100 mcg — produced antibodies that could defeat the coronavirus. The antibodies reportedly produced a higher level of protective antibodies than found in the blood of recovered Covid-19 patients.

Some of the participants showed side effects like local pain, redness at the site of injection, and fever — effects that could be considered a good immunity response. The development saw Moderna’s shares surging as much as 30% in New York, hitting an all-time intraday high of $87.

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