Covid vaccine: 99 per cent of Brits develop antibodies after two jabs, study finds

The prospect of life returning to something like normality has been given a boost by a bumper crop of clinical trials showing that vaccines are highly effective at producing antibodies and easing long covid symptoms, while innovative mRNA treatments could even be used to kill the virus in the lungs.

A University College London (UCL) study found that 96 per cent of Britons develop antibodies after one dose of the AstraZeneca or Pfizer vaccines, and almost 100 per cent do so after their second jab.

The findings, based on a study of 8,517 people in England and Wales, are the latest evidence to show that the two vaccines leading Britain’s vaccine drive are proving highly effective.

Professor Rob Aldridge, the chief investigator of the UCL Virus Watch study, said the data shows that the antibody response is a bit weaker after the first dose of the vaccine for older adults and people with underlying health conditions, but strong after the second dose.

He said: “It is a timely reminder about the importance of getting the second dose of the vaccine. But it is also reassuring – vaccines are our way out of the pandemic.”

The results come as welcome news amid growing concern about the spread of the Indian variant which is threatening to delay the final phase in the roadmap out of lockdown.

A separate survey has found that getting vaccinated also tends to alleviate the symptoms of long covid.

The analysis, which is yet to be peer-reviewed, was based on a survey conducted by the advocacy group LongCovidSOSinvolving 812 people internationally (mostly white, female participants) with long Covid.

Scores across 14 common long-Covid symptoms were compared before and a week after the first vaccine dose. The data showed that 56.7 per cent of respondents experienced an overall improvement in symptoms, with 24.6 per cent remaining unchanged and 18.7 per cent reporting a deterioration in their symptoms.

In general, people who received mRNA vaccines (Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna) reported more improvements in symptoms, compared with those who got an adenovirus vaccine (Oxford/AstraZeneca), though both benefitted. 

Dr David Strain, an author of the analysis and a senior clinical lecturer at the University of Exeter medical school, said: “There isn’t a blood pressure tablet that fixes everybody … and similarly, there’s not one long-Covid treatment that’s going to fix everyone – but the fact that one treatment does fix something means that there’s bound to be other treatments out there that will fix others.”

There have also been positive results coming out of Australia, where scientists have developed an antiviral injection to kill 99.9 per cent of the Covid virus in the lungs of mice. The new therapy has been designed for people who are already severely ill with Covid, for whom a vaccine would come too late.

The “next-generation treatment”, developed by a team of international experts from the Menzies Health Institute Queensland at Griffith University, works like a “heat-seeking missile” to detect the viral load and attack it. 

The treatment, given via an injection, works by using a medical technology called gene-silencing, which uses RNA to attack the virus. 

Professor Nigel McMillan, a co-lead researcher from MHIQ, said the treatment prevents the virus from replicating and may even put a stop to Covid-related deaths across the world. He said: “Essentially, it’s a seek-and-destroy mission… We can specifically destroy the virus that grows in someone’s lungs.”

He said the treatment could be available as early as 2023, depending on the outcomes of the next phase of clinical trials.