Oxford Covid vaccine produces immune response among young, old: AstraZeneca

New Delhi, Oct 26: Oxford coronavirus vaccine has produced an immune response in both elderly and young people and adverse reactions were lower among the elderly. The drug also triggers lower adverse responses among the elderly, British drug maker AstraZeneca Plc said on Monday.

"It is encouraging to see immunogenicity responses were similar between older and younger adults and that reactogenicity was lower in older adults, where the COVID-19 disease severity is higher," an AstraZeneca spokesman told Reuters.

"The results further build the body of evidence for the safety and immunogenicity of AZD1222," the spokesman said.

AstraZeneca, which is developing the vaccine with Oxford University researchers, is seen as a frontrunner in the race to produce a vaccine to protect against COVID-19.

AZD1222 was co-invented by the University of Oxford and its spin-out company, Vaccitech. It uses a replication-deficient chimpanzee viral vector based on a weakened version of a common cold virus (adenovirus) that causes infections in chimpanzees and contains the genetic material of the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19 virus spike protein)