NEW DELHI : In a glimmer of hope for the world reeling under the covid-19 pandemic, interim data from a clinical study published in The Lancet, a peer-reviewed medical journal, on Monday showed that the University of Oxford’s vaccine candidate was safe and started providing immunity against the fatal respiratory disease after 14 days of the first dose.The vaccine candidate is being co-developed by the University of Oxford and British pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca plc, with the Serum Institute of India mass producing it for low-and-middle income countries, including India.Serum Institute chief executive officer Adar Poonawalla said that the company would soon be applying for permission from the Drug Controller General of India V.G.