Oxford COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness validated by Bristol researchers

By Edward Deacon, SciTech Digital Editor

In a new study using recently developed techniques, a team of researchers from the University of Bristol have further validated the effectiveness of the AstraZeneca Oxford COVID-19 vaccine, supporting its ability to provoke the desired immune response.

The study’s findings represent the most rigorous analysis of any potential COVID-19 vaccine and went significantly beyond regulatory requirements from anywhere in the world.

The study assessed how often and how accurately the vaccine copies and uses genetic instructions that describe how to create the Spike protein from the coronavirus - the cause of COVID-19.

'We now know the vaccine is doing everything we expected and that is only good news in our fight against the illness.’

Development of the vaccine started in January 2020 by the University of Oxford’s Jenner Institute, and Oxford Vaccine Group, and is now in Phase III trials involving thousands of adults from a diverse range of ethnic and geographic groups.

The vaccine is created by deleting around 20 per cent of the genetic instructions found in a common cold virus – an adenovirus – and substituting this with the genetic instructions for the Spike protein from SARS-CoV-2. Inside a human cell, the instructions for making the Spike protein allow it to be copied many times producing large amounts of the protein.

The immune system is able to pre-train its response for identifying and attacking a genuine COVID-19 infection by reacting to the presence of the proteins generated by the vaccine.

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Recent advances in genetic sequencing and protein analysis enabled the team of Bristol researchers – led by Dr David Matthews from the School of Cellular and Molecular Medicine – to directly check the accuracy of the copies of genetic instructions in the vaccine and Spike proteins created, assuring the vaccine performed exactly as wanted.

Speaking about the study, Dr Matthews said: ‘Until now, the technology hasn’t been able to provide answers with such clarity, but we now know the vaccine is doing everything we expected and that is only good news in our fight against the illness.’

Featured Image: Pixabay

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