"Booster" shot of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine gives strong immune response - study

Record ID: 1623895

  • Title: "Booster" shot of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine gives strong immune response - study
  • Date: 28th June 2021
  • Summary: OXFORD, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (JUNE 28, 2021) (REUTERS VIA ZOOM) SOUNDBITE (English) ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF IMMUNOLOGY AND VACCINOLOGY AT OXFORD UNIVERSITY, TERESA LAMBE, SAYING: “What we are seeing when we give a third dose of the Oxford Astrazeneca vaccine is that you augment the antibody immunity, so you push the antibodies up higher than what you see even after a second dose. So there had been some concerns that we would not be able to use this vaccine in a booster vaccination regime, and that’s certainly not what the data is suggesting.”
  • Embargoed: 12th July 2021 11:58
  • Keywords: AstraZeneca COVID-19 Oxford antibodies vaccines
  • Location: OXFORD, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM/FILE
  • City: OXFORD, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM/FILE
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Topics: Europe,Health/Medicine
  • Reuters ID: LVA002EJBFEX3
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: A third "booster" shot of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine produces a strong immune response, researchers said on Monday (June 28), adding there was no evidence that such shots were necessary for light of shortages in some countries.
    The Oxford study found that a third dose of the vaccine increases antibody and T-cell immune responses, while the second dose can be delayed up to 45 weeks and also lead to an enhanced immune response.
    The British government has said it is looking at plans for an autumn booster vaccine campaign, with three-fifths of adults already having received both doses of a COVID vaccine.
    Studies had previously shown that AstraZeneca shot, which was invented at Oxford University, has higher efficacy when the second dose is delayed to 12 weeks instead of four weeks.
    Monday's research was released in a preprint and looked at 30 participants who received a late second dose and 90 who received a third dose.
    Real-world data has shown good protection against severe disease from two doses of the vaccine against the Alpha variant which fuelled Britain's second wave of infections and the Delta variant which is now dominant
    At the weekend, Oxford launched a trial of a version of its COVID-19 vaccine that has been modified to better target the Beta variant, first identified in South Africa, which is the variant that most worries vaccinologists for its immune-escape potential.
    (Production: Natalie Thomas)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2021. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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