The University of Oxford has recently confirmed that its Covid-19 vaccine which it has developed with AstraZeneca has produced strong immune responses in older adults in an early study.
Angela Minassian, an investigator at Oxford, wrote in a statement: “Inducing robust immune responses in older adults has been a long-standing challenge. To show this vaccine technology is able to induce these responses — in the age group most at risk from severe Covid-19 disease — offers hope that vaccine efficacy will be similar in younger and older adults.”
The results, published Thursday in The Lancet medical journal, shed more light on preliminary data released in recent months showing the experimental shot generated an immune response in older people, who are at highest risk of severe illness.
The results of Oxford’s phase 2 study show that the vaccine is better tolerated in older people and produces a similar immune response in old and young adults. The study involved 560 adults, including 240 over the age of 70.
