Britain WILL get a coronavirus vaccine by September (if it works), says AstraZeneca CEO despite his lead scientist giving it only a 50% chance of success because COVID-19 could vanish before trials finish
- Chief Executive Pascal Soriot says British people will get first access in autumn
- Oxford academics began working on developing the vaccine in January
- Government has reportedly asked for a supply of 100 million doses of vaccine
- Here’s how to help people impacted by Covid-19
British people will be able to access a coronavirus vaccine from September, the chief executive of drug maker AstraZeneca has said, despite concerns from scientists it will not be ready.
Pascal Soriot told The Andrew Marr Show on Sunday that British people will get first access to the vaccine from autumn.
The pharmaceutical firm, which is working with Oxford University, had previously said it has secured the first agreements for at least 400million doses of the vaccine.
But a leading member of the project told The Sunday Telegraph the clinical trial has only a 50 per cent chance of being successfully completed.
Lower transmission of the coronavirus in the community means it will be harder for trial participants to catch the virus, and for scientists to see if the vaccine is protective.
Pascal Soriot (pictured on today's Andrew Marr show) has insisted the vaccine will be ready for the UK by autumn. The chief executive of AstraZeneca said: 'There's no doubt, starting in September, we will start delivering these doses of vaccine to the British Government for vaccination'
Oxford University's jab was known as ChAdOx1 nCoV but has now been called AZD1222 since a partnership was pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca was secured
High hopes have been pinned on the vaccine from Oxford University, which went into clinical trials on April 23.
The jab, previously called ChAdOx1 nCoV-19, has been renamed AZD1222 since a partnership was pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca was secured in order to produce billions of doses.
AstraZeneca has announced a deal with the US to produce 400million doses of the vaccine - which is still not proven - and 100million for the UK.
Britain has agreed to pay for up the doses 'as early as possible' - with ministers hoping for a third of those to be ready for September if proven effective.
Asked if people in Britain will be among the first to get the vaccine, Mr Soriot said: 'Yes, we have actually received an order from the British Government to supply 100million doses of vaccine, and those will go to the British people.
'And there's no doubt, starting in September, we will start delivering these doses of vaccine to the British Government for vaccination.'
But Mr Soriot went on to say the possibility of the vaccine being rolled out in autumn depended on if an Oxford University trial worked before the transmission rate lowers further.
He added: 'The vaccine has to work and that's one question, and the other question is, even if it works, we have to be able to demonstrate it.
'We have to run as fast as possible before the disease disappears so we can demonstrate that the vaccine is effective.'
It comes one of the leading scientists involved with the trial admitted there is a 50/50 chance it will produce 'no result'.
Oxford University's Jenner Institute and the Oxford Vaccine Group began development on a vaccine in January, using a virus taken from chimpanzees.
Following an initial phase of testing on 160 healthy volunteers between 18 and 55, the study is now set to progress to phases two and three.
It will involve increasing the testing to up to 10,260 people and expanding the age range of volunteers to include children and the elderly.
Professor Adrian Hill, director of Oxford University's Jenner Institute, said he expected fewer than 50 of those to catch the virus. The results could be deemed useless if fewer than 20 test positive.
The vaccine trial only has a 50 per cent chance of success, according to Professor Adrian Hill (pictured) who part of the team studying the vaccine from Oxford
'We said earlier in the year that there was an 80 per cent chance of developing an effective vaccine by September,' he told The Sunday Telegraph.
'But at the moment, there's a 50 per cent chance that we get no result at all.
'We're in the bizarre position of wanting Covid to stay, at least for a little while. But cases are declining.'
If SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes the disease COVID-19, is not spreading in the community, volunteers will find it difficult to catch, meaning scientists can't prove whether the vaccine actually makes any difference.
WHAT IS THE OXFORD VACCINE AND WHO CAN GET ONE?
What type of vaccine is it?
The vaccine is called ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 and is made from a weakened version of a common cold virus (adenovirus) from chimpanzees that has been genetically changed so it is impossible for it to grow in humans.
The intellectual rights to its vaccine are owned by the University of Oxford and a spin-out company called Vaccitech.
Clinical teams at the Oxford University's Jenner Institute and Oxford Vaccine Group began developing the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine in January.
It's a type of immunisation known as a recombinant viral vector vaccine. Researchers place genetic material from the coronavirus into another virus that’s been modified. They will then inject the virus into a human, hoping to produce an immune response against SARS-CoV-2.
This virus, weakened by genetic engineering, is a type of virus called an adenovirus, the same as those which cause common colds, that has been taken from chimpanzees.
If the vaccines can successfully mimic the spikes inside a person's bloodstream, and stimulate the immune system to create special antibodies to attack it, this could train the body to destroy the real coronavirus if they get infected with it in future.
It was developed so rapidly by Sarah Gilbert, a professor of vaccinology, and her team because they already had a base vaccine for similar coronaviruses.
The team have gone through stages of vaccine development that usually take five years in just four months.
However, Professor Gilbert said that none of the normal safety steps had been missed out.
What stage of testing is it at?
The Oxford vaccine trial started testing its ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine on humans on April 23.
The Phase I clinical trial will study safety and efficacy in healthy volunteers aged 18 to 55 years, across five trial centres in Southern England.
It has recruited 1,100 people, half of whom will receive the vaccine and the other half (the control group) receiving a widely available meningitis vaccine.
This is technically known as phase two of a vaccine trial, where the scientists test the vaccine against a placebo and work out the correct dosage.
The first phase, which is a safety run where a small number of people are given the dose to see how the body reacts, is being run at the same time.
If this work is successful, it will move forward into studies to see if the vaccine works against the real virus spreading in the community.
Normally phase three - the final stage of testing - involves hundreds, sometimes thousands, of people across multiple sites for a long period of time.
Who has had it?
A family who are taking part in the trial have revealed what it was like to get the vaccine.
Mother-of-four Katie, 46, took part in the groundbreaking trial with her husband Tony, 53, and daughter Rhiannon Viney, 19.
All three have not reported any reactions since having the jab. None of them know whether they have received the coronavirus vaccine or the placebo meningitis one.
But time will tell if it will protect them from catching the virus from someone.
A family from Oxford who are taking part in the first coronavirus vaccine trial have said it was their duty to take part
Katie told The Express: 'I don't think any of us feels like we have done anything remarkable - we just wanted to do something to help, anything. I just thought of all the children at my school who are missing their friends and are desperate to return to some sort of normality.'
She added: 'We didn't hesitate to participate. We have done our bit for Britain and we are proud.'
Tony said: 'When you think that at any one time there are four billion people in lockdown around the world it is trials like this that could help.'
Katie said she was not worried about any health risks from taking part in the trial because she believes the team have done everything they could to make it safe.
She added: 'Lots of people are being very negative about it, but it is going to be safe, they are not going to take the risk with people's lives.'
Will it be successful?
Professor Gilbert has been vocal about her confidence in the vaccine.
She acknowledged nobody can be 'completely certain' that it is possible to find a vaccine for Covid-19, but the prospects are 'very good'.
In an interview with The Times before trials began, Professor Gilbert told the paper she is '80 per cent' confident of its success, 'based on other things that we have done with this type of vaccine'.
University of Oxford scientists are confident they can get the jab for the incurable virus rolled out for millions to use by autumn.
But Sir Patrick Vallance, the chief scientific advisor to the Government, has said expectations for a vaccine need to be tempered.
Writing in The Guardian ahead of the Oxford trials, Sir Patrick wrote: 'All new vaccines that come into development are long shots; only some end up being successful, and the whole process requires experimentation. This will take time, and we should be clear it is not a certainty.'
What obstacles will the team face?
Some obstacles are expected to emerge while searching for a vaccine. For example, if transmission levels of COVID-19 levels drop in the community, it could hamper the Oxford study.
Professor Gilbert has said they may have to continue their trials in other countries where more of the virus is circulating in the community.
In this case, it could be at least six months before researchers know if the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine works. If transmission remains high in the UK, the team could get data within a couple of months.
Andrew Pollard, who is part of the Oxford team, said there may be hurdles when testing the vaccine on older people.
'For most vaccines the immune system in older adults, particularly those over 70, doesn't make such good responses,' he said.
'If we did see weaker responses in older adults we also have in our plan that we would look at giving additional doses in that age group to try and improve the immune response.'
Professor Gilbert had previously said her team needed help manufacturing the jabs, warning the UK did not have the facilities to do it alone, before a deal was struck with AstraZeneca.
How does it compare to other vaccines?
According to the World Health Organisation, 118 COVID-19 vaccines are in development worldwide as of May 15.. But the UK now joins only the United States and China in beginning human trials. Eight vaccine candidates are now in preclinical trials.
The other British vaccine contender was designed by Imperial College London. Volunteers for clinical trials will be recruited to start the study in June. Robin Shattock, a professor of mucosal infection, said the early volunteers would be given low doses of the vaccine to test its safety.
Imperial's vaccine uses a different approach to that of Oxford. It will try to deliver genetic material (RNA) from the coronavirus which programs cells inside the patient's body to recreate the spike proteins. It will transport the RNA inside liquid droplets injected into the bloodstream.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiamh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmRhaWx5bWFpbC5jby51ay9uZXdzL2FydGljbGUtODM1MjQ5NS9Ccml0YWluLXZhY2NpbmUtYXV0dW1uLURydWctZmlybS1Bc3RyYVplbmVjYS1pbnNpc3RzLmh0bWzSAW5odHRwczovL3d3dy5kYWlseW1haWwuY28udWsvbmV3cy9hcnRpY2xlLTgzNTI0OTUvYW1wL0JyaXRhaW4tdmFjY2luZS1hdXR1bW4tRHJ1Zy1maXJtLUFzdHJhWmVuZWNhLWluc2lzdHMuaHRtbA?oc=5
2020-05-24 17:29:44Z
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