Oxford University's coronavirus vaccine is up to 90 per cent effective at preventing infection, clinical trials show in a major boost to the Government which already has 4million doses ready to be administered as soon as the jab is approved and has ordered 100million in total.
The vaccine is expected to cos just £2 a time and can be stored cheaply in a normal fridge, unlike other jabs made by Pfizer and Moderna that showed similarly promising results last week but need to be kept in ultra-cold temperatures using expensive equipment.
Oxford's trials found that the jab has a nine in ten chance of working when administered as a half dose first and then a full dose a month later. Efficacy drops to 62 per cent when someone is given two full doses a month apart. Oxford scientists believe the smaller initial dose may gradually prime the immune system to produce a more potent response later down the line.
More than 24,000 volunteers were involved in Oxford's phase three trials in the UK and Brazil, half of which were given the vaccine and the rest were given a fake jab. There were only 30 cases of Covid-19 in people given the vaccine compared to 101 in the placebo group. None of the participants who took the vaccine fell seriously ill.
The result also showed lower levels of asymptomatic infection in the smaller dose group which 'means we might be able to halt the virus in its tracks,' according to Professor Andrew Pollard, director of the Oxford Vaccine Group. He said today was 'a very exciting day' and claimed his team's jab would play a key part 'in getting the world back to normal'.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock also hailed the results this morning, saying millions of doses will be ready to go by the end of December. He told the BBC: 'We hope to be able to start vaccinating next month. The bulk of the vaccine roll out programme will be in January, February, March. And we hope that sometime after Easter things will be able to start to get back to normal.'
Oxford's jab is viewed as Britain's best chance of mass-inoculation of the population by the end of spring because Boris Johnson has ordered 100million doses, enough to vaccinate 50million people. The UK already has 4million ready to go as soon as the jab is approved, which could see 2million people inoculated before the end of 2020.
Bookmarks