An-Najah News - The University of Oxford hopes to present late-stage trial results on its COVID-19 vaccine candidate this year. Oxford Vaccine Trial Chief Investigator Andrew Pollard told British lawmakers of presenting trial results this year said “I’m optimistic that we could reach that point before the end of this year".

 though its top scientific investigator cautioned it would still take some time for life to return to normal.

This vaccine works is seen as a game-changer in the battle against the coronavirus, which has killed more than 1.2 million people worldwide, shuttered swathes of the global economy.

Working out whether or not the vaccine worked would likely come this year, after which the data would have to be carefully reviewed by regulators and then a political decision made on who should get the vaccine Pollard said.
“Our bit - we are getting closer to but we are not there yet,” Pollard, director of the Oxford Vaccine Group said.

Asked if he expected the vaccine would start to be deployed before Christmas, he said: “There is a small chance of that being possible but I just don’t know.”

Pollard said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration had set the bar for a vaccine being at least 50% effective - a level that would have a transformative impact on the pandemic.

If Oxford’s vaccine works, it would eventually allow the world to return to some measure of normality after the tumult of the pandemic.