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Oxfords COVID-19 Vaccine Trial Begins in Britain

Dec, 2020 - By WMR

The ongoing Phase III clinical trial spans five continents such as Brazil, India, South Africa, the United States, and the United Kingdom.

The novel coronavirus (COVID-19 pandemic) has made its way to almost every corner of the world and has infected millions of people worldwide. As the disease wreaks havoc in health care systems around the world, a myriad of strategies is currently being tested to curb the spread of the virus or to combat the virus. Research institutes and Pharma companies are trying to develop a safe and effective drug or vaccine to combat the virus. As of now (September 14), the virus has infected more than 29 million people and killed more than 932,461 individuals across the globe.

AstraZeneca (a British-Swedish pharmaceutical company) and the University of Oxford have developed a potential COVID-19 vaccine named AZD1222 (ChAdOx1 nCoV-19) to combat the virus. On September 6, 2020, On September 6, 2020, a Phase III clinical trial of Oxford’s COVID-19 vaccine was stopped after a standard review identified serious adverse reaction in a participant in the United Kingdom. However, now, after an independent investigation by the Medicines Health Regulatory Authority (MHRA), Phase III clinical trials of Oxford’s COVID-19 vaccine are resumed in the U.K.

In July 2020, the team confirmed that the vaccine candidate has moved to the phase III clinical trial in the United Kingdom. Exactly what the reaction is and when it occurred has not yet been made public, however, the report states that the patient is expected to recover. Around 18,000 people worldwide have received study vaccines as part of the trial. According to the University of Oxford, in such large trials, some participants are expected to become unwell, as well as every case needs to be carefully evaluated to ensure their safety. The public roll-out of Oxford’s COVID-19 vaccine is expected to begin in the first half of 2021.