COVID-19: UK To Commence Clinical Trials Of Vaccine On Patients From Thursday

The Health Secretary in the United Kingdom, Matt Hancock, has said that starting from Thursday there will be a commencement of clinical trials of a possible vaccine for coronavirus on patients.

The vaccine, named ChAdOx1 nCoV-19, is created by scientists at Oxford University.

Matt, while addressing journalists at the daily conference at Downing Street, said that the UK Government was “throwing everything” at the creation of the vaccine.

He said that the sum of £20 miilion had been made available for the funding of the trials, adding that an extra £22.5 million will go into research being carried out at Imperial College, London.

He said, “In the long run the best way to defeat coronavirus is through a vaccine. This is a new disease, this is uncertain science, but I’m certain that we will throw everything we’ve got at developing a vaccine.

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“The UK is at the forefront of the global effort. We’ve put more money than any other country into the 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.

“Both of these promising projects are making rapid progress and I’ve told the scientists leading them that we’ll do everything we can to support them.

“And today making available 20 million pounds to the oxford team to fund their clinical trials. The team has accelerated its process working, with the regulator of the MHRA ((Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Agency), who have been absolutely brilliant.

“As a result, I can announce that the vaccine from the oxford project will be trialled in people from this Thursday.

“In normal time, reaching this stage takes years and I am very proud of the work taken so far.

“At the same time, we will invest in manufacturing capability so that if either of these vaccines safely works then we can make it available for the British people as soon as humanly possible.”

Although, he said that the trials are not certain

“The upside of being the first country in the world to develop a successful vaccine is so huge that I am throwing everything at it."