Oxford University pushing science to the limit in vaccine hunt
LONDON:26 April: Oxford University is launching a human trial of a potential coronavirus vaccine, with the daunting aim of making a successful jab available to the public later this year.
Of the more than 100 research projects around the world to find a vaccine — described by the United Nations as the only route back to “normality” — seven are currently in clinical trials, according to the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
Such trials are already underway in China and the United States and are due to begin at the end of this month in Germany, where the federal vaccine authority gave the green light on Wednesday.
The British government supports Oxford University’s work, and the first human trials started on Thursday, Health Minister Matt Hancock said.
He hailed the “promising development”, pointing out that it would normally take “years” to reach such a stage of vaccine development.
Human trial of potential vaccine being started
In its first phase, half of 1,112 volunteers will receive the potential vaccine against Covid-19, the other half a control vaccine to test its safety and efficacy.
The volunteers are aged between 18 and 55, are in good health, have not tested positive for Covid-19 and are not pregnant or breastfeeding.
Ten participants will receive two doses of the experimental vaccine, four weeks apart.
Professor Sarah Gilbert’s team hopes for an 80 percent success rate, and plans to produce one million doses by September, with the aim of making it widely available by the autumn if successful.
But the teams carrying out this research say on their website that this timetable is “highly ambitious” and could change.
The government’s chief medical officer Chris Whitty acknowledged on Wednesday that the likelihood of getting a vaccine within the year was “incredibly small”.
“If people are hoping it’s suddenly going to move from where we are in lockdown to where suddenly into everything is gone, that is a wholly unrealistic expectation,” he warned.DAWAN.
