According to data released on Monday, two potential coronavirus vaccines showed early signs of efficacy with no serious adverse side effects.
One vaccine is being developed by Oxford University and British drugmaker AstraZeneca.
Another vaccine is from CanSino Biologics, a Chinese biopharmaceutical company.
Both vaccines consist of a modified, harmless common cold virus, adenovirus, that conveys genetic instructions to cells for activating the immune system to attack the COVID-19.
The genetic components of the vaccines include a copy of a “spike” protein found on the surface of the coronavirus.
The spike protein in the vaccines allows the production of antibodies and germ-fighting T cells that recognize and battle the coronavirus.
The trials for the vaccines were used on healthy volunteers who were not directly exposed to COVID-19.
Although, as of now, much larger trials would be needed to assure the safety and effectiveness of these vaccines in preventing the infection by COVID-19.
Another vaccine that has shown early promises includes the vaccine by German biotech BioNTech and U.S. drugmaker Pfizer Inc.
The vaccine trials were conducted in Germany on 60 healthy volunteers.
The vaccine by the German and US company too uses messenger RNA to instruct cells to build a ‘spike’ protein that once recognized by the immune system triggers the release of a high level of T cells against the coronavirus.