Oxford COVID-19 vaccine trial results due this year, trial chief says

London, November 4

The COVID-19 vaccine developed by the University of Oxford may current late-stage trial outcomes earlier than the yr finish however it’s unclear if it is going to be rolled out earlier than Christmas, the chief trial investigator for the vaccine stated on Wednesday.

“I’m optimistic that we could reach that point before the end of this year,” Oxford Vaccine Trial Chief Investigator Andrew Pollard stated of presenting trial outcomes this yr.

Pollard stated understanding whether or not or not the vaccine labored would probably come this yr he stated, after which the information must be fastidiously reviewed by regulators after which a political determination made on who ought to get the vaccine.

“Our bit – we are getting closer to but we are not there yet,” Pollard, director of the Oxford Vaccine Group, stated.

Asked if he anticipated the vaccine would begin to be deployed earlier than Christmas, he stated: “There is a small chance of that being possible but I just don’t know.”

“Our trials are only one of many that are going on around the world, a number of which may well report before the end of the year, and so those steps will need to be happening for multiple different products,” he stated.

The Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine is anticipated to be one of many first from huge pharma to be submitted for regulatory approval, together with Pfizer and BioNTech’s candidate.

A vaccine that works is seen as a game-changer within the battle towards the novel coronavirus, which has killed greater than 1.2 million individuals, shuttered swathes of the worldwide financial system and turned regular life the wrong way up for billions of individuals.

If it really works, a vaccine would permit the world to return to some measure of normality after the tumult of the pandemic.

Pollard stated the U.S. Food and Drug Administration had set the bar for a vaccine being at the very least 50% efficient – a degree that may have a transformative affect on the pandemic.

“But to be able scientifically able to test 50% is a lot harder – you need a lot more cases to occur in the trials,” he stated. “So I think we are all hoping the vaccine will be more effective than that which means we will have an answer sooner.” “What the actual level of efficacy is unknown at the moment – no one has unblinded their trials and looked at the data so far.” Reuters