Here, an excerpt:
Preclinical data from a leading COVID-19 vaccine candidate from Oxford University suggest that it may be more like the flu vaccine than the smallpox jab, reducing the severity of symptoms but not preventing infection.
Such a vaccine could help individuals infected with SARS-CoV-2 avoid pneumonia and the downward spiral that all too frequently leads to a ventilator. It would save lives, especially among the most vulnerable, such as the elderly and people with diabetes and other health conditions that put them at high risk of succumbing to COVID-19.
A partially effective vaccine would not, however, break the spread of infection....
A single dose of ChAdOx1 nCoV-19, an investigational vaccine against SARS-CoV-2, has protected six rhesus macaques from pneumonia caused by the virus,” NIH stated in a press release.
NIH cited a BioRxiv preprint that demonstrates a single dose of ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 “rapidly induced immune responses against SARS-CoV-2 in mice and rhesus macaques.”
ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 did not produce antibody enhancement, alleviating a major safety concern about COVID-19 vaccines.
All six vaccinated monkeys produced virus-neutralizing antibodies, with titers ranging from 5 to 40, while none of the three control monkeys produced neutralizing antibodies.
Three of the vaccinated monkeys developed an elevated respiratory rate, a sign of clinical disease. The control monkeys had worse clinical scores for a longer period of time, suggesting the vaccine had decreased disease severity.
