The UK study also found that a critical component of the immune system known as T cells showed a more enhanced response in those who got the AstraZeneca/Oxford University vaccine than in those who got the Pfizer/BioNTech one. The scientists behind the study, which analysed blood samples from 165 people in Britain aged between 80 and 99 who had been given a first COVID-19 vaccine dose, said that finding merited further investigation. It found that key antibodies were present and at similar levels in 93 percent of the 76 study participants who got the Pfizer single COVID-19 vaccine dose, and 87 percent of the 89 participants who got the AstraZeneca shot. Helen Parry, clinical lecturer at Birmingham University who co-led the study, said the tests also showed that a larger proportion of those who got the AstraZeneca vaccine had a detectable T cell response. Around half of the UK population have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, one of the highest rates of inoculation in the world.

Source: bd News24 April 14, 2021 13:40 UTC