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Oxford scientists: how we developed our COVID-19 vaccine in record time

COVID-19 Research

Trial participant having a blood sample taken. © Credit: University of Oxford, John Cairns

The pandemic is only a year old, but we already have multiple vaccines available to fight COVID-19 – including the vaccine developed by the team we’re part of at the University of Oxford.

With our partner AstraZeneca, we have submitted both interim efficacy data and safety data for the vaccine to regulators across the world for independent scrutiny and approval. So far the vaccine has been approved for emergency use in the UK, India, Morocco, Argentina and El Salvador.

As well as being great news for getting us back to normal, this represents a phenomenal scientific achievement. Typically, developing a vaccine takes decades – but we have several available for COVID-19 after just 12 months. Here’s how we managed this for the Oxford vaccine.

Read the full article on The Conversation website, written by Tonia Thomas (Oxford Vaccine Group) and Rachel Colin-Jones (Centre for Clinical Vaccinology & Tropical Medicine, Jenner Institute).

Oxford is a subscribing member of The Conversation. Find out how you can write for The Conversation.

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