Last checked at 
(Adds detail, background)
LONDON, Dec 17 (Reuters) - Oxford's COVID-19 vaccine
candidate has a better immune response when a two full-dose
regime is used rather than a full-dose followed by a half-dose
booster, the university said on Thursday.
The vaccine candidate, which has been licensed to
AstraZeneca, has published interim late stage trial
results showing higher efficacy when a half dose is followed by
a full dose, compared to a two full-dose regime, though more
work needs to be done to affirm the result.
The details from the Phase I/II clinical trials released on
Thursday made no reference to the half-dose/full-dose regime,
which Oxford has said had been "unplanned" but approved by
regulators.
The university said it had explored two dosing regimes in
early stage trials, a full-dose/full-dose regime and a
full-dose/half-dose regime, investigated as a possible "dose
sparing" strategy.
"The booster doses of the vaccine are both shown to induce
stronger antibody responses than a single dose, the standard
dose/standard dose inducing the best response," the university
said in a statement.
The vaccine "stimulates broad antibody and T cell
functions," it said after publishing further data from the Phase
I/II clinical trials.
(Reporting by Alistair Smout; editing by William James and Mark
Heinrich)
