Early Trials Of Chinese Company's Vaccine Show It Triggers An Immune Response

As companies around the world race to develop coronavirus vaccines, hundreds of thousands of people in China were inoculated with a vaccine before its efficacy was proven in trials. Now, researchers have released preliminary results that show the vaccine produces an immune response, although it's too early to say whether it can prevent disease.

The results were released Tuesday in a peer-reviewed paper in the medical journal The Lancet. The data is from the earliest clinical trials — Phase 1 and 2 — of the vaccine, called CoronaVac.

The early trials tested whether the vaccine produced an immune response, and also monitored side effects, using two different dosages and vaccine schedules.

Phase 1 and 2 trials are not designed to show efficacy, says Dr. Kirsten Lyke, an immunologist and medical professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.

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