COVID-19 Oxford Vaccine Trial
LSTM is one of the research trial sites testing a new vaccine against COVID-19 in healthy volunteers.
The development of a safe and effective vaccine will be the only way we will be able to get out of the pandemic and resume our normal lives and the Respiratory Infection and Vaccine team at LSTM is working hard towards this.
LSTM is one of the research trial sites testing a new vaccine against COVID-19 in healthy volunteers.
The development of a safe and effective vaccine will be the only way we will be able to get out of the pandemic and resume our normal lives and the Respiratory Infection and Vaccine team at LSTM is working hard towards this.
This study will enable researchers to assess if people can be protected from COVID-19 with this new vaccine called ChAdOx1 nCoV-19. It will also give them valuable information on safety aspects of the vaccine and its ability to generate good immune responses against the virus in young and older adults.
LSTM does this by randomly allocating participants to receive the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine or a Men ACWY vaccine in addition to doing blood tests and collecting information about any symptoms that occur after vaccination. If a participant develops COVID symptoms they are tested for COVID.
To estimate the efficacy of the vaccine the proportion of those who develop COVID in the vaccine and the control arm will be compared. Efficacy data for the trial will be pulled from all 18 sites in the UK and Brazil and presented to regulators for potential licensure of the vaccine. The team is now in discussions with NIHR and industry partners for delivery of two further COVID vaccine studies starting at the end of the year.
In addition, Professor Daniela Ferreira’s team has been collaborating with Pfizer, who have an existing vaccine which works against one cause of severe pneumonia and are working on a vaccine for COVID. Viral infections are commonly associated with secondary bacterial infections during winter season, with pneumococcus increasing viral disease severity. Professor Daniela Ferreira and Dr Elena Mitsi were awarded a Pfizer funded grant to investigate the relationship of pneumococcus and SARS-CoV-2 and assess the immunological responses during co-infection. The ultimate aim is to define if pneumococcal vaccine would ultimately also assist the fight against COVID.
