Study of vaccine being tested in UAE has good news for elderly

The Covid-19 vaccine currently being tested in the UAE is safe and produced an immune response in early testing in China, a study showed.

The study published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases journal showed promising results from Phase-1 and 2 trials involving participants between 18 and 80.

More than 31,000 volunteers in the UAE have taken part in the vaccine’s Phase-3 trials.

The findings indicate that the vaccine, called BBIBPCorV, may be effective for the elderly, one of the groups most susceptible to the disease.

“Protecting older people is a key aim of a successful Covid-19 vaccine because this age group is at greater risk of severe illness from the disease,” said Prof Xiaoming Yang, one of the study’s authors. “However, vaccines are sometimes less effective in this group because the immune system weakens with age.

“It is therefore encouraging to see that BBIBP-CorV induces antibody responses in people aged 60 and older, and we believe this justifies further investigation.”

The Phase-1 and 2 trials were carried out in China between April 29 and July 30 and involved more than 600 healthy volunteers.

In the early trials, the vaccine triggered antibodies in all participants that block the virus from infecting cells within 42 days.

Participants aged 60 and over were slower to respond and they also produced fewer antibodies.

Antibodies were detected in younger participants within 28 days. The vaccine was tolerated well at all doses, according to the study.

A clinical trial for a different vaccine had similar results but it was tested only on people under 60.

The vaccine was developed by the Beijing Institute of Biological Products, affiliated with the state-owned China National Pharmaceutical Group ( Sinopharm), and is based on an inactivated SarsCoV-2 virus.

The study was not designed to assess the vaccine’s effectiveness at preventing infection, so it is not yet known whether it produces enough antibodies to provide immunity. During Phase-1 trials, researchers studied three dose levels and a placebo on 96 participants between 18 and 59, and 96 participants between 60 and 80.

Phase- 2 trials investigated the optimal timing for vaccination and indicated that a booster shot was needed to achieve the greatest antibody response.

Clinical trials for 42 different Covid-19 vaccines are under way across the world.

In addition to the Beijing Institute of Biological Products this study was carried out by researchers from the Henan Provincial Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention and other institutes in China.

Older people are at increased risk of serious Covid-19 infections, so a vaccine is important