Human trials of a potential coronavirus vaccine developed at the University of Oxford are to begin on Thursday, April 23, health secretary Matt Hancock has announced.
Speaking at the daily Downing Street press conference, the health secretary observed that the UK government was “throwing everything” at the search for a coronavirus vaccine.
He therefore announced £20m support to the Oxford team to help fund its clinical trials, with a further £22.5m going to researchers at Imperial College London.
Mr Hancock said the government will now invest in manufacturing capability so that if either the Oxford or Imperial vaccine works safely, it will be made available to the UK public “as early as humanly possible”.
The Oxford team hopes to have a vaccine available for use by autumn if the trails are successful.
This will be a breakthrough which would potentially signal the start of the world’s slow emergence from an outbreak which has already claimed 175,000 lives and caused devastating economic damage.
Despite a normal development time of 18 months or more for a vaccine, the Oxford researchers led by Professor Sarah Gilbert, believes large-scale production could be under way as early as September.
By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri