Scientists Find New Way of Predicting COVID-19 Vaccine Efficacy

According to Australian scientists, the early immune response in a COVID-19 vaccinated individual can predict the level of protection the person will have to the coronavirus with the passage of time. The analysis, published in the journal Nature Medicine, has been made by mathematicians, clinicians, and scientists in Australia. 

The 'immune correlate' of vaccine protection, identified by the researchers from Australian universities, features the potential to dramatically cut development times for new vaccines. It must be noted that the new COVID-19 vaccine development time can be cut by measuring neutralising antibody levels as a 'proxy' for immune protection from coronavirus. 

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The researchers performed analysis on data from seven COVID-19 vaccines. An examination on the correlation of the response measured soon after vaccination with protection was performed. Later, statistical analysis was used to define the specific relationship between immune response and protection. It was found that the analysis was highly accurate, thereby being apt to predict the efficacy of a new vaccine.

According to Dr. Cromer, Kirby Institute, the findings will help in changing the way COVID-19 vaccine trials are conducted in the coming time. Moreover, since antibody immune levels are much easier to measure than vaccine efficacy over time, antibody levels across the range of new vaccine candidates during the early phases of clinical trials will help in determining whether a vaccine should be used for preventing coronavirus disease. 

Scientists suggest that with the new findings, it will be easy to predict how protective an immune response will be against different COVID-19 variants. Through the same, there will be no need of determining efficacy against each variant in large and costly clinical trials.

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Disclaimer: This article is issued in the general public interest and meant for general information purposes only. Readers are advised not to rely on the contents of the article as conclusive in nature and should research further or consult an expert in this regard.