Current Developments of the Oxford University COVID-19 Vaccine
Rohin Buch
Health Head
Recently, Oxford University's drug trials have been proving successful in finding a preliminary vaccine for COVID-19. In the trial being researched and performed at Oxford along with cooperation from British-Swedish medical corporation AstraZeneca, the vaccine has successfully induced an immune response, something that previous vaccines have not been able to boast. The New York Times comments that the partnership between Oxford and AstraZeneca on COVID-19 vaccine may be the most closely-watched vaccine trial and it is said that the UK and the United States have already spent hundreds of millions of dollars securing nearly two billion doses of the vaccine even before its medical efficacy has been proven. It has also been rumored that Russia wanted to spy on the Oxford vaccine research
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Another reason it has been so sought-after is because it is the first vaccine to enter Phase III trials. According to the CDC, the official meaning of a vaccine reaching Phase III trials is that “the vaccine is [being] given to thousands of people and tested for efficacy and safety”. Furthermore, due to the fact that it has entered Phase III trials, the Oxford vaccine is being tried and administered internationally. In the UK, Brazil, and South Africa, upwards of 10,000 participants have received doses of the Oxford vaccine with a new Phase III test involving 30,000 more participants being set to begin in the US next week.
The way in which the Oxford vaccine works is that it alters the genes of another common virus in the human body called an adenovirus. Due to this gene alteration, the adenovirus particles mimic the coronavirus in the patient’s body and thus provoke an immune response as human bodies are already accustomed to fighting the adenovirus, which is the virus responsible for the common cold. This method is also being used by another vaccine made by Chinese company CanSino Biologics, however their vaccine is widely considered to be the least effective among the other preliminary vaccines, including the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine and another one being researched by drug company Pfizer.
One other difference between CanSino’s vaccine and Oxford’s is that the CanSino vaccine uses human adenovirus to trick the immune system into thinking it is COVID-19, which has proved to be not as effective as Oxford’s trial because a human immune system is prone to attacking human adenoviruses. However, Oxford’s vaccine implements monkey adenovirus particles, toward which the human body has no predeveloped antibodies and thus can trick the immune system much more effectively.
Besides this, what has been brought to the attention of many medical professionals is the lack of elongated vaccine testing periods, meaning that most vaccines are relying on data from patients who have it administered and are then monitored for only a few weeks, rather than a few months, which would increase vaccine efficacy.
Medical corporate giants are fighting to see who can make an effective vaccine first, and since this is the case, time is of the essence and vaccine trials cannot be monitored for the full period of time.
This rush on the part of the medical corporations to publish favorable results has supposedly resulted in a decline in the obedience of local laws and regulations, leading to an even more grave need for a vaccine. If the medical corporations’ monetary greed continues to loom over the vaccine development process, this vicious cycle will never end.
Works Cited
Kirkpatrick, David D. “Three Coronavirus Vaccine Developers Report Promising Initial Results.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 20 July 2020, www.nytimes.com/2020/07/20/world/covid-coronavirus-vaccine.html.
“Vaccine Testing and Approval Process.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1 May 2014, www.cdc.gov/vaccines/basics/test-approve.html.
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