Inside Oxford's Vaccine Saga: From Wild Hype to Sobering Reality

[Klaralven]

In April, Sarah Gilbert, the British scientist leading Oxford University’s Covid-19 vaccine effort, said she was 80 percent confident her team would be able to produce a successful vaccine by September.

It was a remarkable statement—conspicuously confident—especially given the timing: Oxford’s vaccine had yet to be tested in a single human, and the results from a preliminary trial involving monkeys hadn’t yet been published.

With pandemic death rates in the U.S. and Britain ratcheting upward, Gilbert’s forecast soothed panicky citizens who had been told that it typically takes years to develop a successful vaccine. The New York Times wrote that Oxford had leapt ahead of the competition and was “sprinting fastest” to the finish line. Within weeks, Oxford had partnered with British pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca and the two were inking deals around the world to manufacture and distribute hundreds of millions of doses. The vaccine became one of the world’s best hopes: By late August, with Phase III trials to determine safety and efficacy ongoing, the world had ordered more of the Oxford candidate than any other, at least 2.94 billion doses.

Now, Gilbert’s, and the world’s, hopes are coming back down to earth, with the news that AstraZeneca paused Phase III trials after one participant in Britain showed symptoms consistent with transverse myelitis, a rare neurological disease caused by inflammation of the spinal cord. Obstacles like this one are not unexpected in vaccine development, experts say. The fact that AstraZeneca is pausing trials to investigate, they point out, is a good thing—a signal that that system is working as it should, that drug companies are taking safety seriously, that there are some scientific norms that politics hasn’t trampled.

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/09/11/inside-oxford-coronavirus-vaccine-saga-412208

I think about getting a British vaccine like I think about buying a British car. Just don't.

[Blues Heron]

1. So you wouldn't buy a Rolls if you could afford the payments? lol "british vaccine"

[Klaralven]

5. Rolls Royce cars are built by a subsidiary of BMW using new production facilities.

The old Rolls production facilities were bought by Volkswagen, along with the Bentley Brand.

Even so, I don't think I'd want a Rolls. Couldn't afford the maintenance.

[htuttle]

2. I owned an MG Midget in high school, and it was one of the best things to ever happen to me

Convertible with spoked wheels, even.

I'm far more likely to trust a vaccine that has been developed outside Trump's ability to lie about it. Johnson is no prize either, but he hasn't consolidated power over the government of UK the same way that Trump captured the Republican party. I trust their science more than I trust someone who probably plays golf with Tangerine Mussolini.

And the so-called Russian vaccine? No way, no how. Not with a 10 foot pole.

[obamanut2012]

3. The UK has some of the best scientosts and healthcare in the world

Your statement in your OP is non-factual.

[Klaralven]

6. On thing that puts me off is the apparent leading role of Oxford scientists

I've worked in technology from basic research, applied research, advanced development to development.

There's a big difference between a science experiment in basic research and a fully developed, quality, supportable product.

Biology has been an area plagued with "non-reproducible" results. University researchers publish results of work funded by NIH, NSF, etc., but when the pharmaceutical companies try to apply the results in products, they find that things don't work as published.

[Dem2]

13. Thank you

I'm hearing "British vaccine" and "China virus" in my head, not a good sound.

[USALiberal]

4. Good article, really clueless ending! Nt

[bluecollar2]

7. What's wrong with British cars? N/T

[Klaralven]

9. Quality and reliability were so bad there are hardly any left

Only Aston Martin and possibly McLaren, although the latter is majority owned by Bahrain.

All the rest of the one-time British "brands" are owned by Tata, BMW, VW, Peugeot, etc.

[bluecollar2]

10. The operative word being "were"

American cars weren't much better until Japan forced change in the manufacturing process.

But if you want to perpetuate a myth feel free to carry on.

[SidDithers]

8. Edward Jenner was British...

Welcome to DU.

Sid

[a la izquierda]

11. I'm moving to England in October.

I’ll get the vaccine there once they’ve gotten it ready. They could’ve rolled out the vaccine without pause, without disclosing something had happened. They didn’t.

[LisaL]

12. Did you read the article? If the reaction was caused by a vaccine, there might not be a vaccine

ready. Ever. The trial could very well be stopped.

[a la izquierda]

14. Yeah of course I read it.

I’ve been following the vaccine stuff closely because, like any normal person, I’d like to get my life back to as normal as possible soon. I haven’t seen my family in months, I’ve had two relatives die since May, and I’m moving to another continent. There are other trials going on in Europe. This was the most hopeful I think.
There might not be a vaccine from anywhere. Or there might be. Who knows.

[LisaL]

15. It was the most promising candidate.

They might have already started to make large stocks of it. Now it all can come to a screeching end.
Which is obviously why vaccines shouldn't be used until fully tested.
Which takes a long time, not less than a month (since Trump is promising October vaccine).

[Lars39]

16. The US experienced 2 or 3 "brain drains" under Bush Jr

There may have been a reversal under Obama, but there sure as heck hasn't been under Trump. Probably more like a "run for the hills" type of exodus of foreign students and scientists.
Anyway, I think we can expect a safe vaccine to be developed anywhere but the US.