Oxford University Coronavirus Vaccine's 500 Human Trials Begin From Thursday
The UK government has announced that human trial of a potential COVID-19 vaccine being developed by Oxford University researchers will begin from Thursday. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) also pitched for the Oxford vaccine, called 'ChAdOX1', last week, calling it the frontrunner in the race for a COVID-19 vaccine.
Finally, some good news related to a COVID-19 vaccine that we've all been waiting for. Not just any vaccine, but a vaccine that many experts believe will be the first in the world to be commercialised.
The UK government has announced that human trial of a potential Coronavirus vaccine being developed by Oxford University researchers will begin from Thursday. Last week, even the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has supported the Oxford vaccine, called 'ChAdOX1', calling it the frontrunner in the race for a COVID-19 vaccine.
Reuters
According to the UK government, the potential Oxford University coronavirus vaccine will be on up to 510 people aged between 18 and 55, out of an overall group of 1,112 volunteers who've been selected and finalised for the COVID-19 vaccine trial.
The information of fast-tracking the Oxford vaccine trial was revealed by UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock while briefing the UK parliament on how they're pretty much 'throwing everything at' Britain's attempt to develop the first coronavirus vaccine in the world, according to a DailyMail report.
That's not all, the UK government is also funding scientists with an extra 20 million pounds to help with their trials, and offering a further 22.5 million pounds to another Coronavirus vaccine project underway at the Imperial College London, according to an IANS report.
What's the Oxford coronavirus vaccine?
According to lead researcher Professor Sarah Gilbert, their 'ChAdOx1' vaccine can work against the coronavirus called SARS-CoV-2. Sure, a lot of potential COVID-19 vaccines claim to do that. So what's special about the Oxford University vaccine after all?
Reuters
What probably separates ChAdOx1 -- known as recombinant viral vector vaccine -- from the rest is the time it promises to take in order to deliver mass quantities.
The Oxford coronavirus vaccine is supposed to be an adenovirus vaccine vector developed at Oxford's Jenner Institute. Adenoviral vectors are a very well-studied vaccine type, having been used safely in thousands of participants, from 1 week to 90 years of age, in vaccines targeting over 10 different diseases, reports suggest.
If all goes well with the human trial stage of this Oxford University coronavirus vaccine, the research team is extremely hopeful of aggressively meeting their own internal deadline of having this certified and mass produced for everyone to use by September of this year. Let's hope for their success in meeting that milestone, for the sake of all humanity and innocent lives!