アメリカ民主主義さんの おぼえた日記 - 2020年7月21日(火)

＜BBCニュース7月21日＞
Coronavirus: Oxford vaccine triggers immune response
コロナウイルス　オックスフォード大学のワクチンが免疫反応を促進

◎要旨
オックスフォード大学が開発するワクチンの試験注入でコロナウイルスを無力化する抗体や白血球の一種であり細胞がコロナに感染しているか見分けるＴ細胞を増加することが明らかになった。ただし、このワクチンがコロナ予防に効果があるかはわかっていない。
また、このワクチンは安全ではあるが、70％の人が発熱や頭痛を訴えた。
次のステージではイギリスで1万人が参加する予定であるが、イギリスでは感染者が減少しているので、アメリカ・南アフリカ・ブラジルの協力も仰ぐ。
A coronavirus vaccine developed by the University of Oxford appears safe and triggers an immune response.

Trials involving 1,077 people showed the injection led to them making antibodies and T-cells that can fight coronavirus.

The findings are hugely promising, but it is still too soon to know if this is enough to offer protection and larger trials are under way.

The UK has already ordered 100 million doses of the vaccine.

How does the vaccine work?
The vaccine - called ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 - is being developed at unprecedented speed.

It is made from a genetically engineered virus that causes the common cold in chimpanzees.

It has been heavily modified, first so it cannot cause infections in people and also to make it "look" more like coronavirus.

Scientists did this by transferring the genetic instructions for the coronavirus's "spike protein" - the crucial tool it uses to invade our cells - to the vaccine they were developing.

This means the vaccine resembles the coronavirus and the immune system can learn how to attack it.

What are antibodies and T-cells?
Much of the focus on coronavirus so far has been about antibodies, but these are only one part of our immune defence.

Antibodies are small proteins made by the immune system that stick onto the surface of viruses.

Neutralising antibodies can disable the coronavirus.

T-cells, a type of white blood cell, help co-ordinate the immune system and are able to spot which of the body's cells have been infected and destroy them.

Nearly all effective vaccines induce both an antibody and a T-cell response.

Levels of T-cells peaked 14 days after vaccination and antibody levels peaked after 28 days. The study has not run for long enough to understand how long they may last, the study in the Lancet showed.

Prof Andrew Pollard, from the Oxford research group told the BBC: "We're really pleased with the results published today as we're seeing both neutralising antibodies and T-cells.

"They're extremely promising and we believe the type of response that may be associated with protection.

"But the key question everyone wants to know is does the vaccine work, does it offer protection... and we're in a waiting game."

The study showed 90% of people developed neutralising antibodies after one dose. Only ten people were given two doses and all of them produced neutralising antibodies.

"We don't know the level needed for protection, but we can maximise responses with a second dose," Prof Pollard told the BBC.

★語句
induce　引き起こす
we're in a waiting game　持久戦？
paracetamol 解熱剤

◎私見
また、週刊文春が新たな発見をしたそうだ。「Go Toトラベルキャンペーン」を受託したのは「ツーリズム産業共同提案体」は、自民党幹事長の二階俊博氏をはじめ自民党の議員37名に対し、少なくとも約4200万円の献金をしていたそうだ。なぜ、周囲の批判を押し切って、この事業を強行するのかよくわかる。日本の政治の水準がよくわかる出来事である。