Coronavirus vaccine being trialled on humans at Oxford University within two days

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the trials will start at Oxford this week (Picture: PA/Reuters)

A Covid-19 vaccine being developed at the University of Oxford will be trialled on humans for the first time in 48 hours. Speaking during the daily No 10 press briefing, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the government was ‘throwing everything at’ developing a new, successful vaccine.

Mr Hancock said the UK was at the ‘forefront of the global effort’ and that two of the world’s leading vaccine developments are taking place at the universities of Oxford and Imperial. The health secretary said scientists at Oxford are now ready to take their vaccine to human trials on Thursday.

He announced that another £44.5 million will be awarded to both universities to keep funding scientists’ ‘promising’ trials, which are ‘making rapid progress’. Mr Hancock told the press conference: ‘First, I’m today making £22.5 million available to the Imperial project to support their Phrase 2 clinical trials which are going to assess a sample of several thousand and for them to begin the work on subsequently a very large phase 3 trial.  ‘Second, I’m today making available £20 million to the Oxford team to fund their clinical trials.

The team have accelerated that trials process working with the regulator, the MHRA, who have been absolutely brilliant. ‘As a result I can announce that the vaccine from the Oxford project will be trailed in people from this Thursday. ‘In normal times, reaching this stage would take years and I’m very proud of the work taken so far.

 

 

An incubator full of hyperflasks used in the development of the ChAdOx1 vaccine candidate at the Clinical Biomanufacturing Facility in Oxford (Picture: Reuters)

This is the vaccine candidate to be used in Phase 1 clinical trial in Oxford (Picture: Reuters)

At the same time, we will invest in manufacturing capability so that if either of these vaccines safely work, we can make it available for the British people as soon as humanely possible.’ The health secretary insisted the UK has put ‘more money than any other country into the global search for a vaccine’. ‘In the long run the best way to defeat coronavirus is through a vaccine. After all, this is a new disease,’ he added.

‘This is uncertain science but I’m certain that we will throw everything we’ve got at developing a vaccine’. He said coronavirus was a ‘powerful enemy’ but that ‘the power of human ingenuity is stronger’ and every day scientists are discovering more about the virus.

Mr Hancock re-iterated the government’s mantra of telling the public the best thing they can do in the meantime is ‘stay at home, to protect the NHS, and save lives.’

Mr Hancock said the UK had been at the forefront of the global search for a vaccine (Picture: Reuters)

At the weekend, Chairman of the Office for Strategic Coordination of Health Research, Professor Sir John Bell, said if the UK vaccine is successful it could be rolled out to billions. He stressed that proper trials are essential for safety but said the ‘game is on’ if there is evidence of a ‘strong immune response’ by the end of May and that trials should be finished by mid-August. He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘The real question is will it have efficacy? Will it protect people, and that has not been tested and it will only be tested once you have vaccinated a significant number of people and exposed them to the virus and counted how many people have got the virus in that population. ‘So, we won’t even get a signal for that until May.

But if things go on course and it does have efficacy, then I think it is reasonable to think that they would be able to complete their trial by mid-August.’ Overnight another 828 people died in hospital after testing positive for Covid-19, bringing the death toll to 17,337.

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Source:metro.co.uk/