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LONDON: Human trials of a highly anticipated vaccine, developed by the prestigious Oxford University against the new coronavirus began in the UK on Thursday, and scientists gave it an 80 percent chance of success.
The UK government has pledged £ 20 million to support the coronavirus vaccine test program “ChAdOx1 nCoV-19”, and UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the government “would throw everything away” to find a vaccine against the deadly virus.
“After all, the advantage of being the first country in the world to develop a successful vaccine is so great that I am throwing it all away,” he said.
The vaccine being tested is made from a harmless chimpanzee virus that has been genetically engineered to transport part of the coronavirus to be tested on volunteers in good health aged 18-55.
Volunteers in the UK are offered £ 625 to participate in the historical research, with a goal of 500 to sign up by the middle of next month.
The Oxford vaccine project is led by Professor Sarah Gilbert and other human immunity and genetics scientists who began work on the design of a coronavirus vaccine in January this year.
“Although it seems like a long time since work began, in reality, it has been less than four months since we first learned of an outbreak of severe pneumonia cases and began planning for a response,” the team said in a release.
“Our brilliant team has been working tirelessly to get to this point using our skills and experience in vaccine development and testing, and will do the best job possible to move forward quickly while prioritizing the safety of trial participants at all times,” added the statement.
The trial for ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 will be conducted through a collaboration between clinical teams from the Oxford Vaccine Group and the Jenner Institute at the University of Oxford.
The time it would take to determine if the vaccine is effective would “largely” depend on the amount of virus transmission in the community, initially focused on the Oxford and Southampton test areas.
If there is very low transmission of the virus among the volunteers who are vaccinated, we would have to wait a long time to get the result, explains Professor Gilbert. Therefore, healthcare workers in hospitals, more likely to have been exposed to Covid-19, will be among the focus groups.
Meanwhile, the manufacture of the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine is already being expanded in preparation for larger trials.
“We really don’t want to find ourselves in a situation where the vaccine can demonstrate that it is safe, provides strong immune responses and protects people, but we don’t have any doses to vaccinate anyone else,” Gilbert said.
The optimistic deadline being analyzed for around one million doses is for September. Agreements have been made with manufacturers in the UK and abroad to manufacture the vaccine on a scale basis, should it prove effective.
Finding a vaccine that works against Covid-19 is a race against time, as it is the only sure option for governments to ease the severe blockade measures in place around the world to curb the rapid spread of the pandemic.
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The UK government has pledged £ 20 million to support the coronavirus vaccine test program “ChAdOx1 nCoV-19”, and UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the government “would throw everything away” to find a vaccine against the deadly virus.
“After all, the advantage of being the first country in the world to develop a successful vaccine is so great that I am throwing it all away,” he said.
The vaccine being tested is made from a harmless chimpanzee virus that has been genetically engineered to transport part of the coronavirus to be tested on volunteers in good health aged 18-55.
Volunteers in the UK are offered £ 625 to participate in the historical research, with a goal of 500 to sign up by the middle of next month.
The Oxford vaccine project is led by Professor Sarah Gilbert and other human immunity and genetics scientists who began work on the design of a coronavirus vaccine in January this year.
“Although it seems like a long time since work began, in reality, it has been less than four months since we first learned of an outbreak of severe pneumonia cases and began planning for a response,” the team said in a release.
“Our brilliant team has been working tirelessly to get to this point using our skills and experience in vaccine development and testing, and will do the best job possible to move forward quickly while prioritizing the safety of trial participants at all times,” added the statement.
The trial for ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 will be conducted through a collaboration between clinical teams from the Oxford Vaccine Group and the Jenner Institute at the University of Oxford.
The time it would take to determine if the vaccine is effective would “largely” depend on the amount of virus transmission in the community, initially focused on the Oxford and Southampton test areas.
If there is very low transmission of the virus among the volunteers who are vaccinated, we would have to wait a long time to get the result, explains Professor Gilbert. Therefore, healthcare workers in hospitals, more likely to have been exposed to Covid-19, will be among the focus groups.
Meanwhile, the manufacture of the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine is already being expanded in preparation for larger trials.
“We really don’t want to find ourselves in a situation where the vaccine can demonstrate that it is safe, provides strong immune responses and protects people, but we don’t have any doses to vaccinate anyone else,” Gilbert said.
The optimistic deadline being analyzed for around one million doses is for September. Agreements have been made with manufacturers in the UK and abroad to manufacture the vaccine on a scale basis, should it prove effective.
Finding a vaccine that works against Covid-19 is a race against time, as it is the only sure option for governments to ease the severe blockade measures in place around the world to curb the rapid spread of the pandemic.
