Older people respond well to AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine

People involved in the ongoing Phase III program for AstraZeneca’s (LSE: AZN) COVID-19 vaccine candidate say it produces a robust immune response in the elderly.

Talking to  Reuters, a spokesperson for the company said: “It is encouraging to see immunogenicity responses were similar between older and younger adults and that reactogenicity was lower in older adults, where the COVID-19 disease severity is higher.”

If borne out by the data, the claim could be significant for the coronavirus frontrunner, given that older people are at a much greater risk of hospitalization or death from the novel coronavirus.