A Chinese vaccine for COVID-19 showed promising results in a Stage 1 clinical trial, producing immune cells called T cells within two weeks, The New York Times reported.
"This is promising data, but it's early data," a Boston vaccine research director, Dr. Dan Barouch, not involved in the Chinese vaccine research, told the Times. "Overall, I would say this is good news."
The vaccine was based on a cold virus called Ad5, modified to carry genetic instructions to the human cell to help make a coronavirus protein, which the immune system attacks to help keep people from becoming overwhelmed by COVID-19, according to The Lancet.
There is a shortcoming with this vaccine, however, as many people have been exposed to Ad5, so those who already have antibodies to it might reject the vaccine.
"Their immune systems will essentially rear up and blunt the effect of the vaccine," University of Maryland vaccinologist Dr. Kirsten Lyke, leading another coronavirus vaccine trial, told the Times.
Even researchers in China admit the limitations of the Ad5-based vaccine for this reason, per the report.
"That may limit the use of this vaccine," Baylor College dean Dr. Peter Hotez told the Times. "If you're comparing vaccines, the adenovirus ones so far seem to be on the lower end of the spectrum."
But there is a need for a varying number of vaccines to mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic, and Dr. Barouch is working on an Ad26 vaccine, which is far less likely have people with high levels of antibodies to that strain.
"What we hope is that there will be not one vaccine but several vaccines that will be approved," Dr. Barouch told the Times. "The world needs multiple vaccines."
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