Big morning for updates to the @nytimes coronavirus vaccine tracker. In fact, I need a thread! nytimes.com/interactive/20… 1/9 #covid19
First up: Oxford scientists publish their first clinical trial paper on their chimp adenovirus vaccine, to be made by Astra Zeneca. Phase I/II trial indicates it’s safe (lots of mild side effects), produces some antibodies, some interferon. 2/9
CanSinoBio has its own paper out in the Lancet, demonstrating an immune response to a vaccine based on another adenovirus, Ad5 3/9
BioNTech & Pfizer report more Phase I/II data in a preprint, showing immune response to the coronavirus to their mRNA vaccine 4/9
Kentucky BioProcessing has registered a Phase I trial for a protein-based vaccine made by a species of tobacco plant. It’s the second company linked to a cigarette maker to enter the race. (Medicago is the other.) 5/9
This is the week that Johnson & Johnson starts its safety trials on its own adenovirus vaccine, Ad26. (Here’s my feature on that project: nytimes.com/2020/07/17/hea… ) 6/9
North Korea announced its own Phase I trial of a coronavirus vaccine, but it’s hard to know what to make of that—no preclinical data on offer, and an assertion that they'll have to test the vaccine outside of North Korea because the country has ZERO cases of #covid19 🙄 7/9
All in all, quite a morning. But it’s vital to remember: NO VACCINE HAS YET BEEN PROVEN EFFECTIVE AT PREVENTING #COVID19. Advances and reports are encouraging, but scientists have yet to show that the immune responses they’re seeing are enough to fend off the coronavirus. 8/9
But if everything goes right we may not have to wait long for the first results of effectiveness trials. Anyway—check out the whole shebang here: nytimes.com/interactive/20… 9/9
