Oxford's COVID-19 vaccine will be ready by December: Serum Institute CEO Adar Poonawalla
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'A lot of people were wondering and asking the question, will these early vaccines be effective for the elderly and most vulnerable, here is some preliminary good news,' said CEO Adar Poonawalla, Serum Institute of India
Oxford is developing a COVID-19 vaccine with Serum Institute of India, and as the trials further, the CEO Adar Poonawalla has claimed that the vaccine will be available till the end of the year.
As per the CEO, the trials of the Covishield, the coronavirus vaccine, are showing promising results and may be available for production by December. However, he also added that the claim is being made on the basis of the data collected in the UK.
"A lot is subject to data from the UK and also a lot depends on the approvals coming through from the Drugs Controller General Of India," Poonawalla told an Indian media house.
As per the statement, the researchers will apply for emergency authorisation with the Drugs Controller General Of India if the data from the trials show promising results. Whether or not there will be a need to apply for emergency authorisation will not be clear till the last stage.
He took to Twitter to share the "good news", saying "A lot of people were wondering and asking the question, will these early vaccines be effective for the elderly and most vulnerable, here is some preliminary good news."
A lot of people were wondering and asking the question, will these early vaccines be effective for the elderly and most vulnerable, here is some preliminary good news. https://t.co/QEnuifxuiW
— Adar Poonawalla (@adarpoonawalla) October 26, 2020
Findings on blood tests carried out on a subset of older participants echo data released in July that showed the vaccine generated robust immune responses in healthy adults ages 18 to 55, AstraZeneca said Monday.
“It is encouraging to see immunogenicity responses were similar between older and younger adults and that reactogenicity was lower in older adults, where the Covid-19 disease severity is higher,” AstraZeneca told an American local media channel. “The results further build the body of evidence for the safety and immunogenicity” of the vaccine candidate
The vaccine being developed by Oxford is one of the front runners in the race of several other vaccines being tested by Russia, China and few of the more first-world countries.