Snippet of encouraging data keeps Oxford and AstraZeneca on COVID-19 vaccine radar

University of Oxford and AstraZeneca have been beaten by companies on the other side of the Atlantic in their quest to show efficacy of their COVID-19 vaccine in a late-stage trial.

However, they have managed to grab back some of the focus through data published on Thursday by The Lancet, showing that the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine triggers a robust immune response in healthy adults aged 56 to 69 years, and those over 70 years of age.

"Older adults are a priority group for COVID-19 vaccination"Reporting on data from a Phase II trial of the ChAdOx1 nCov-2019 vaccine, the authors write that volunteers in the trial demonstrate similar neutralizing antibody titres, and T-cell responses across adult age ranges.