(10.06.2021)
Although the new vaccine variants shows considerable promise, Prof Gilbert said there was no guarantee it would be mass-produced since existing jabs are proving effective against new strains – so it may make more sense to carry on producing those rather than manufacturing different ones.
The country’s full-speed approach to lifting restrictions has certainly contributed to a spike in infections. But that’s only part of the picture.
(10.06.2021)
Although the new vaccine variants shows considerable promise, Prof Gilbert said there was no guarantee it would be mass-produced since existing jabs are proving effective against new strains – so it may make more sense to carry on producing those rather than manufacturing different ones.
(16.03.2021)
The objective of Global Britain is not to swagger or strike attitudes on the world stage. It is to use the full spectrum of our abilities, now amplified by record spending on both defence and science, to engage with and help the rest of the world. That is how we serve the British interest, and I mean the economic interest of people up and down the country. And as the vaccine programme begins to inspire a new global hope, we want to use this moment to heal, both literally and figuratively.
(17.02.2021)
Dr Dix added: ‚I think 40 days would be a real stretch but we would aim for something as good as that.
‚But certainly within 60 days and then, after that, we would start the manufacturing.‘
Manufacturing vaccines takes different amounts of time depending on the type of jab.
(09.02.2021)
It expects to have a vaccine designed to address the variant discovered in South Africa ready by autumn.
(30.12.2020)
Professor Andrew Pollard said it was „entirely possible“ to adapt the jab to protect people from other strains.
But he added that there is no evidence so far to suggest that the vaccines won‘t work against a new mutation.
It comes as a variant in the South East has been blamed for a rise in cases, with scientists warning it‘s more contagious and can spread more rapidly.
(23 November 2020)
The virus from chimps is genetically modified so it cannot cause an infection in people. It can then be modified again to contain the genetic blueprints for whatever you want to train the immune system to attack. This target is known is an antigen.
ChAdOx1 is in essence a sophisticated, microscopic postman. All the scientists have to do is change the package.
„We drop it in and off we go,“ said Prof Gilbert.
(15.07.2021)
The ultimate goal of T cell-based vaccination strategies is the induction of long-term immunological protection via effector memory T cells1. Adenovirus (Ad) vector-based vaccines using the backbone of human Ads have been shown in clinical studies
to be highly immunogenic with induction of specific antibody and/or T cell responses to viral or cancer antigens. However, pre-existing anti-Ad antibodies in vaccinated individuals reduces immunogenicity and efficacy of vaccines based on human Ads, which led to the development of non-human vectors based on chimpanzee viruses. Chimeric Ad vectors have been shown to induce long-lived T cell responses against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and to generate polyfunctional central and effector memory T cells against hepatitis C
virus.
(…)
Results
Targeting of human fibroblasts by Ad vectors. Human Ads were first described as cytopathogenic agents isolated from human adenoid tonsils28. Here, we used sliced tissue cultures from human
palatine tonsils to assess the cellular tropism of green fluorescent protein (GFP)-expressing Ad vectors (Extended Data Fig. 1a). Both HuAd5-GFP and chimpanzee (Ch)AdOx1-GFP vectors readily transduced cells in the tissue slides, with PDPN+CD45− cells most
frequently expressing the GFP transgene (Fig. 1a,b). Next, we compared side-by-side the susceptibility to infection with recombinant Ad vectors of short-term cultured tonsillar stromal cells (TSCs) and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). Both ChAdOx1-GFP (Fig. 1c,d) and HuAd5-GFP (Fig. 1e,f ) efficiently transduced TSCs following an incubation of 3 h, while the transduction rate of PBMCs remained low. Even at the high multiplicity of infection (MOI) of 1,000 particles per cells, less than 2% of the hematopoietic cells were GFP-positive.
(15.07.2021)
Scientists from Oxford and Switzerland, writing in journal Nature, say T-cell protection is a “key feature” of adenovirus vaccines like the Oxford and J&J jabs.
Researcher Prof Burkhard Ludewig, of Cantonal Hospital in Switzerland, said: „The T-cells that come from these cellular training camps appear to have a very high level of ‘fitness’.
“Adenoviruses have co-evolved with humans over a very long time, and learned a lot about the human immune system in the process.
– EMA does not recognise the Covishield AstraZeneca vaccine produced in India
– This could cause issue for vaccinated Britons eagerly hoping to travel abroad
– Still a theoretical issue as so few European nations are on the ‚green‘ travel list
The EU’s passport scheme does not recognise batches of AstraZeneca that were made in India and given out in the UK.
The EU Digital Covid Certificate will allow people to travel safely across Europe by acting as a Covid passport.
(23 November 2020)
The virus from chimps is genetically modified so it cannot cause an infection in people. It can then be modified again to contain the genetic blueprints for whatever you want to train the immune system to attack. This target is known is an antigen.
ChAdOx1 is in essence a sophisticated, microscopic postman. All the scientists have to do is change the package.
„We drop it in and off we go,“ said Prof Gilbert.
(10.06.2021)
Although the new vaccine variants shows considerable promise, Prof Gilbert said there was no guarantee it would be mass-produced since existing jabs are proving effective against new strains – so it may make more sense to carry on producing those rather than manufacturing different ones.
The PM is appealing to other leaders in a bid to resolve the crisis without a clash, and he spoke with continental heavyweights Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron last night to try and persuade them to soften their stance. He has also sent Lord Lister, a government ally, to India to ease tensions over the delay to a batch of five million UK-bound doses of the same vaccine.
The objective of Global Britain is not to swagger or strike attitudes on the world stage. It is to use the full spectrum of our abilities, now amplified by record spending on both defence and science, to engage with and help the rest of the world. That is how we serve the British interest, and I mean the economic interest of people up and down the country. And as the vaccine programme begins to inspire a new global hope, we want to use this moment to heal, both literally and figuratively.
Die ansteckendere Corona-Variante aus Großbritannien macht bei den Neuinfektionen in Deutschland mittlerweile einen deutlich größeren Anteil aus. Laut Gesundheitsminister Spahn könnte sie bald dominierend sein.
(09.02.2021)
It expects to have a vaccine designed to address the variant discovered in South Africa ready by autumn.
(14.02.2021)
The Anglo-Swedish company, which makes a vaccine developed by the University of Oxford, said it is working with the university’s scientists to adapt the shot to combat new variants.
(12.02.2021)
SAGE member Professor John Edmunds painted a darker picture and suggested the measures could last even longer.
He told ITV‘s Peston face masks could be required „probably forever“ if COVID-19 becomes endemic in the UK.
Dr Dix added: ‚I think 40 days would be a real stretch but we would aim for something as good as that.
‚But certainly within 60 days and then, after that, we would start the manufacturing.‘
Manufacturing vaccines takes different amounts of time depending on the type of jab.
According to new results, a single dose of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine prevents two-thirds of Covid transmissions, raising hopes for the easing of restrictions by Easter.
The data, released on Feb 2, also revealed that the first jab prevents 100 per cent of hospitalisations after 22 days once an immune response has had time to develop.
(10.02.2021)
AstraZeneca subcontracted the plant — previously owned by Novasep — to produce the drug substance of its vaccine. Volanti would not say how many doses the plant was contracted to provide. He said the plant sends its drug substance to an Italian company to be put into vials and packaged for distribution.
AstraZeneca declined to comment on Thermo Fisher’s remarks, according to Reuters.
(09.02.2021)
AstraZeneca has said it could take between six and nine months to produce Covid-19 vaccines that are effective against new variants of the coronavirus, and begin administering them to the public.
It expects to have a vaccine designed to address the variant discovered in South Africa ready by autumn.
Production BioNTech has said it can produce a fresh vaccine within six weeks of a decision being made. But the Oxford/AstraZeneca team, which uses more traditional viral vector technology, says that while it can make a new formulation in days, it takes much longer to produce
But hopes the world-beating vaccine roll-out will mean lockdown curbs can be significantly eased any time soon were shot down today by Mr Hancock, who unveiled the latest suite of border curbs and warned they could last until the Autumn when booster vaccines will be available.
Evidence suggests the Oxford University vaccine – the main weapon in Britain‘s arsenal to combat the virus – does not stop people falling ill with the South African variant, which is feared to be spreading in the community already.
Professor Gilbert earlier told the BBC‘s Andrew Marr Show that her team currently has ‚a version with the South African spike sequence in the works‘ with hopes it will be ready to administer by the autumn.
‚It‘s not quite ready to vaccinate people with yet, but, as all of the developers are using platform technologies, these are ways of making a vaccine that are very quick to adapt,‘ she added.
(02.02.2021)
The authors also report further on the potential for the vaccine to reduce transmission of the virus, based on swabs obtained from volunteers in the UK arms of the trial with a 67% reduction after the first dose of the vaccine.
If there was no impact of a vaccine on asymptomatic infection, it would be expected that an efficacious vaccine would simply convert severe cases to mild cases and mild cases to asymptomatic, with overall PCR positivity unchanged. A measure of overall PCR positivity is appropriate to assess whether there is a reduction in the burden of infection. Analyses presented here show that a single standard dose of the vaccine reduced PCR positivity by 67%, and that, after the second dose, the SD/SD schedule reduced PCR positivity by 49.5% overall. These data indicate that ChAdOx1 nCoV-19, used in the authorised schedules, may have a substantial impact on transmission by reducing the number of infected individuals in the population.
Meanwhile, analysis of PCR positive swabs carried out on nearly 7,000 patients in the UK arm of Oxford‘s trial suggests the vaccine may reduce transmission by 67 per cent.
Prof Andy Pollard, of the University of Oxford, said the lack of data is understandable. “In our trials, the older adults were recruited later and, because they were recruited later there has been less time for cases to occur, and, older adults are known to be more cautious in the pandemic, meaning the ‘attack rate’ is lower,” he said.
AstraZeneca has stressed that older adults were recruited later because the team wanted to be sure the vaccine was safe before administering it to older age groups.
A University of Oxford spokesperson said clinical trials showed similar immune responses in younger and older adults, a good safety profile and high efficacy in younger adults. “There is no basis for the claims of very low efficacy of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine which have been circulating in the media,” they said.
While it is true that there was less data from older adults involved in the trials, the team say early figures were promising: “Preliminary efficacy data in older adults supports the importance of this vaccine for use in this population,” they said.
Wir berichteten am 4. Dezember, dass der bereits im Frühjahr 2020 von der Oxford Universität entwickelte Impfstoff ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 (später AZD1222 oder Covishield) „jederzeit allen weiteren Varianten“ von SARS II angepasst werden kann. Wie der britische „Telegaph“ nun berichtet, geschieht dies jetzt.
Premierminister Boris Johnson, ansonsten umflutet von Myraden von Experten und sicherlich auch privat als Daddy gefordert, soll sich nun ausnahmsweise mit den Wissenschaftler.innen der Oxford Universität „intensiv“ unterhalten.
Es wurde auch Zeit.
Wissenschaftlerinnen und Wissenschaftler der Universität Oxford überarbeiten den zusammen mit dem Konzern AstraZeneca entwickelten CoV-Impfstoff, damit dieser gezielt gegen die neuen, hochansteckenden Coronavirus-Mutationen eingesetzt werden kann, die in Großbritannien, Südafrika und Brasilien entdeckt wurden.
A laboratory study found that the 501Y.V2 variant achieved „complete escape“ from monoclonal antibodies, the man-made proteins that act like the antibodies produced by jabs.
Boris Johnson said he was holding „intensive talks“ with scientists about the new variants. The Prime Minister told MPs he was confident that the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) was capable of approving new vaccine modifications as quickly as necessary.
Back in March, Oxford University had “a limited manufacturing and supply capacity so they needed a partner,” Srinivasan said. “We decided to immediately offer our capacity in terms of the global reach. But that was only the beginning. Then we had to establish various alliances whether public partnerships that have been governments, or with for profit organizations or CMOs [some of which can be found here, here, and here], or not for profit organizations such as The Gates Alliance, GAVI, CEPI, and other organizations.”