How Close Are We to Getting a Vaccine?

Thursday 23rd of April 2020

How Close Are We to Getting a Vaccine?

From 23rd April, a potential coronavirus vaccine being developed in the UK at the University of Oxford will begin human trials, Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, has said. Speaking at the Government’s daily press briefing on Tuesday Mr Hancock said he is "throwing everything at" the country's efforts to create a Covid-19 vaccine.

He said that ‘UK has put more money than any other country into a global search for a vaccine and, for all the efforts around the world, two of the leading vaccine developments are taking place here at home - at Oxford and Imperial’. Mr Hancock pledged £20 million of funding for the Oxford project, and £22.5 million for clinical trials of another prototype at Imperial College London. Both projects are making rapid progress.

Professor Andrew Pollard, Chief Investigator on the study, and Professor of Paediatric Infection and Immunity, University of Oxford, said they are working in collaboration with worldwide academics to find a vaccine for Covid-19. He said that “millions of doses” could be ready by the autumn, if “nothing goes wrong in that complex process” of clinical trials.

Once the vaccine is ready for use in the UK, Professor Pollard said decisions will be made by the Government about which groups will receive the vaccine first. Clinical trials are expected to begin in June and the team will look to recruit healthy adults to test the vaccine. Results could be available as soon as September, the researchers say.