There has been some very positive news regarding covid-19 vaccines in recent days.
Firstly, we were told that a vaccine candidate being developed by Germany-based Pfizer and BioNTech was more than 90% effective based on extensive trials.
This was followed by an announcement from US firm Moderna, who revealed that the interim results from its phase 3 clinical trials showed its vaccine candidate to be nearly 95% effective in terms of preventing the disease.
The UK has secured 40 million doses of Pfizer's vaccine and 5 million of Moderna's - but there is another vaccine that our government is relying on, with hopes boosted by the news from Germany and the US.
From the early days of the race for a vaccine, the UK government has talked up the work being done by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca.
It has reserved 100 million doses of this vaccine and it is seen as the major hope for the UK.
As the Guardian reports, while the Oxford candidate uses a different technology to the Moderna jab, the two vaccines both rely on stimulating cells to produce a specific protein, which in turn triggers an immune response.
This means the positive trial results for Moderna’s jab bode well for Oxford.
The newspaper reports that results from the Oxford trials are 'imminent' and if all goes well, it could be one of the first to be rolled out in this country.
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Prof Andrew Pollard, director of the Oxford Vaccine Group said: “The positive results from the other developers means it is likely that there will be multiple vaccines on target, which is great news for the world."
Prof Pollard told the Guardian that the Oxford/AstraZeneca team expect to have findings from their phase 3 clinical trial within a matter of weeks.
