First successes with corona vaccine

Ana Goldscheider studied journalism and corporate communication in Hamburg and is now completing additional training as an editor. In a medical editorial office, she writes texts for print magazines and, among other things.

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A vaccine should be effective quickly and well tolerated. Researchers from China have now come a step closer to achieving this.

For the first time, a possible vaccine against the coronavirus has been shown to be at least partially effective in tests on people. The active ingredient Ad5-nCoV was found to be safe and well tolerated in the so-called phase 1 trial, according to a study by the Beijing Institute of Biotechnology published on Friday in the journal "The Lancet".

Above all, however, it generated an immune response to the Sars-CoV-2 virus in the human body. However, further experiments are necessary to find out whether this reaction also prevents infection with the virus.

Fast results

The first positive results were already 14 days after a single dose of Ad5-nCoV: Virus-specific, neutralizing antibodies and a corresponding reaction of special defense cells were found in the test subjects.

Institute professor Wei Chen, who was responsible for the studies in Beijing, advised that the results be interpreted "cautiously". "There is a promising vision for Covid-19 vaccine development, but we are still a long way from having a vaccine that is available to all," he said.

Final evaluation is still pending

Ad5-nCoV was administered to 108 healthy volunteers in Wuhan, China, and the effects were evaluated up to 28 days later. A final evaluation should be available after six months. A double-blind study with a control group has already started as a phase 2 trial with the active ingredient, also in Wuhan. According to the "Lancet", there are currently more than 100 possible active ingredients against Covid-19 in development worldwide. (ag / dpa)

Tags:  elderly care Diagnosis prevention