Oxford Covid vaccine trial confirms encouraging results for the elderly

The coronavirus vaccine under development by Oxford university and AstraZeneca has elicited a strong immune response and been shown to be safe in older adults, a group at disproportionate risk of developing severe Covid-19. In phase 2 trial results published in The Lancet, researchers said the vaccine had fewer adverse effects in older people than in younger adults, and that it produced a similar immune response in both groups. The Financial Times first reported on the promising data last month. Testing of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine is at an earlier stage than work on vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech, which trials suggest could protect about 95 per cent of people from infection.