Coronavirus vaccine update: Here's why Oxford University clinical trials positive outcome is good news for India

It's been seven months since the world first saw the emergence of the deadly coronavirus, which has infected over 13 million people till now and caused lakhs of fatalities.

As scientists have been rushing through to make a preventable cure for COVID-19, Oxford University researchers may now be the first ones to claim success from phase I/II of their clinical trials. The news of the vaccine's phase I/II studies were released yesterday evening (July 20). The encouraging, positive news of the antibody spiking up vaccine candidate ‘AZD1222’ has surely raised a lot of hopes worldwide. The results, which have been published in the medical journal The Lancet asserts the fact that Oxford vaccine is fit for usage and illicit required immunity in the body.

Studies say that the vaccine, AZD1222 was able to produce a dual response in volunteers aged between 18-55:

"Now what this vaccine does particularly well is triggered both arms of the immune system in addition to neutralizing antibodies which other vaccines do, we also see a very strong T-cell response," says Professor Adrian Hill, Director of the Jenner Institute, Oxford University.

Richard Horton, the editor of the UK-based science journal ‘The Lancet’ also noted that “the vaccine is safe, well-tolerated, and immunogenic.”

While Oxford researchers are still proceeding ahead with phase III of their trials, the largest and the most critical one, the news of the vaccine's early-stage results sound nothing but good bells, not just for the world but for India and there is more than one reason for the same:

There's a big positive to Oxford University and AstraZeneca's vaccine development- a start of clinical trials in India. AstraZeneca, the British-Swedish pharma firm which has partnered with Oxford University has struck a deal with private vaccine manufacturer, Serum Institute of India (SII) to produce upwards of 20 million doses, which could help meet the dose requirement before 2020, which is the estimated time of vaccine delivery.

AstraZeneca, which is overseeing outsourced phase III trials of its native vaccine in countries like Brazil is also hopeful of starting trials in India as well. While the country just saw the start of phase I/II of homegrown vaccines, COVAXIN and ZyCOV-D, Oxford-AstraZeneca is also aiming to start human trials by the month of August.

In a statement, Serum Institue of India CEO Adar Poonawalla said:

"The trials have shown promising results… We will be applying for the licensure trials to the Indian regulator in a week’s time. In addition, we will soon start manufacturing the vaccine in large volumes, the institute will manufacture and supply one billion doses of the vaccine. "

Serum Institute of India has also signed pacts to deliver the promising vaccine doses to developing countries as well to ensure fair distribution.

India is the third-worst affected nation to be struck by the pandemic, globally. Even though the rate of recovery breathes a sigh of relief, the cases are rampantly rising in the country, with high-level daily spikes recorded every day. In such a case, a vaccine's introduction could hold promising news in dealing with the pandemic's spread.

While some places in India are seeing cases plateauing, some are reported fresher cases. It has now been estimated that different places in India will peak at different times and in such a scenario, controlling the spread of the pandemic can only be made possible through a vaccine which works from the grassroots level. A vaccine, such as Oxford one could provide a safe bout of immunity to the crowds and prevent the spread of the pandemic. In places where cases have come down, or have successfully flattened the curve, availability of a vaccine could help prevent the second or subsequent third peak of the infection.

The same was echoed at a recent briefing by the country's medical boards, where it was mentioned that a vaccine could be one of the ways to fight the pandemic. It has also been said that more than one vaccine might be needed to combat the surge.