牛津疫苗在老年人中产生免疫反应

诸平

据《新科学家》（New Scientist）2020年10月26日报道，已发现牛津大学（University of Oxford）的冠状病毒候选疫苗可在55岁以上的人群中产生免疫反应（immune response in people）。结果令人鼓舞，因为老年人患重症和死于COVID-19的危险性增加，部分原因是随着年龄的增长而免疫力会减弱。尽管该发现尚未发表，但是，之前的7月份的疫苗试验结果发现，该疫苗还可以对18至55岁的年轻人产生免疫反应（immune response in younger adults）。该候选疫苗由阿斯利康制药公司（AstraZeneca）与牛津大学合作开发是的， “令人鼓舞的是看到老年人和年轻人之间的免疫原性反应（immunogenicity responses）相似，”阿斯利康的一位发言人今天（10月26日）告诉CNBC（told CNBC today）。

英国卫生部长马特·汉考克（Matt Hancock）今天（10月26日）表示，政府正准备推出一种冠状病毒疫苗，并预计将在2021年上半年准备就绪。马特·汉考克还表示，他不排除某些人可能会在今年内接受这种疫苗的可能性。10月25日，美国卫生顾问安东尼·福西（Anthony Fauci）表示，应该在11月底或12月初知道冠状病毒疫苗候选者是否安全有效。安东尼·福西在BBC的安德鲁·马尔秀节目（BBC’s Andrew Marr Show）中说：“问题是，一旦您拥有安全有效的多种疫苗，那么如何才能尽快将其送给需要它的人？”更多信息请注意浏览原文或者相关报道。

Other coronavirus news

The city of Melbourne, in south east Australia, will exit its strict coronavirus lockdown from Wednesday, after more than three months. Deaths in Victoria state, of which Melbourne is the capital, accounted for more than 90 per cent of deaths from covid-19 in Australia’s second wave. But after its first day with no new coronavirus cases since June, authorities announced that restrictions could gradually be lifted. “With zero cases and so much testing over the weekend […] we are able to say that now is the time to open up,” Victoria’s premier Daniel Andrews told journalists today. From Wednesday, people in Melbourne will be allowed to leave their homes freely, and bars, shops and restaurants will be permitted to reopen. 

As coronavirus cases surge in the US, White House chief of staff Mark Meadows said that the country is “not going to control the pandemic”. Speaking on CNN’s State of the Union show yesterday, he said: “What we need to do is make sure that we have the proper mitigation factors, whether it’s therapies or vaccines or treatments to make sure that people don’t die from this.” More than 225,000 people in the US have died from covid-19 since the start of the pandemic, according to Johns Hopkins University. The US reported 83,718 new coronavirus cases on Saturday, almost as many as the country’s current record for daily new cases of 83,757 set on Friday. 

UK pharmacy chain Boots today announced it will start offering 12-minute coronavirus tests for people without symptoms in November. The tests will cost ￡120 and will be available in selected UK stores. While a negative test result may give people peace of mind at the time it is taken, Paul Hunter at the University of East Anglia told the BBC: “A negative test today tells you nothing really about whether you are going to be positive a day or two later.”