© Provided by The Canadian Press
HALIFAX — An early trial of a prospective COVID-19 vaccine that will soon be tested on Canadians has found it to be safe and effective at prompting an immune response.
A study published Friday in the Lancet says the formulation from China’s CanSino Biologics Inc. needs more trials to determine whether it can actually protect against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
But it says early trials involving 108 adults in Wuhan produced neutralizing antibodies and a response in T-cells, which protect the body from pathogens, after 28 days. The most common side effects — described as “mild” and “moderate” — were pain at the injection site, fever, fatigue and headache.
The findings land just before researchers at Dalhousie University test the CanSino product in Halifax in the upcoming weeks.
Dalhousie says Canada’s first clinical trial for a potential vaccine will start with fewer than 100 people between the ages of 18 and 55. A followup stage will involve almost 500 people across Canada, including those aged 65 to 85.
The Beijing professor responsible for the Lancet study stresses that the findings should be interpreted cautiously, describing it as “a promising vision for the development of COVID-19 vaccines.”
“We are still a long way from this vaccine being available to all,” Wei Chen from the Beijing Institute of Biotechnology said Friday in a release.