A recent study of coronavirus vaccines led by dr. Matthew Snape, a professor at Oxford University in the UK, sent Twitter users and “Harry Potter” fans into a frenzy this week.
The coincidence of names caused jokes and memes about the real Professor Snape in connection with those from the Harry Potter books.
The fictional professor Snape, played by the late actor Alan Rickman, is the magic potion master at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Dr Matthew Snape is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Vaccination at the University of Oxford. He is on track to use new vaccine technology that could boost protection against Covid-19. Specifically, Snape’s trial focuses on the possibility of mixing Covid-19 vaccines with different formulas for the first and second doses to increase overall efficacy.
Snape is hopeful that the study can help speed up vaccination by proving that a “mixed schedule” of vaccine doses provides a strong immune response, he told the British newspaper Evening Standard.
Snape said in a Oxford news release in February: “If we show that these vaccines can be used in the same scheme, it will significantly increase the flexibility of vaccine vaccination, and could provide clues on how to increase the protection period. against new virus strains. ‘
As social media users catch the wind that Professor Snape is conducting a coronavirus vaccine study, the news of the trial and a potentially groundbreaking scientific development provoked a reaction from avid “Harry Potter” fans on social media.
Even Oxford came up with the fun, tweet:
This is apparently not the first time that the colorful professor is reminded of the fictional reference.
“As a pediatrician with a famous namesake, I get a lot of comments – very memorable ‘I thought you were dead!’,” Snape told the Evening Standard.
It was announced on Tuesday that the trial, which was launched in February with Pfizer and AstraZeneca’s vaccinations, would be extended to the Moderna and Novavax formulas, according to the Evening Standard.
Dark or not powerful, Snape is optimistic that the combination of viral vector vaccines, as well as RNA vaccines, can elicit a better immune response than he calls the ‘straight’ vaccine schedules, he told the Evening Standard . The study previously tested only mice, so taking the next step to involve human data may yield more answers.