THE HUNT FOR a vaccine against Covid-19 is one of the most pressing items on the global agenda today.

Without a vaccine, we could be facing into years of curbed human activity and interaction, and clusters of coronavirus in countries across the world.

This week came the good news that a trial of a potential vaccine at Oxford University had seen some encouraging results. The vaccine being tested was found to be safe and induce an immune reaction in the early stages of the UK trial. 

Researchers at Oxford University conducted a Phase 1/2 trial involving 1,077 healthy adults and found the vaccine induced strong antibody and T cell immune responses for up to 56 days. That said, the trial is at too early a stage to be sure if it could meet the requirements needed for an effective vaccine against Covid-19. 

To find out more about the trial and the potential for this vaccine, we spoke to one of the researchers involved, Dr Teresa Lambe of the Jenner Institute at University of Oxford. 

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This episode was put together by presenter Sinéad O’Carroll, producer Aoife Barry, editor Laura Byrne and executive producer Christine Bohan. Guest was Dr Teresa Lambe of the Jenner Institute. Design by Palash Somani. Features a clip from The Lancet Voice.