Britain launches COVID-19 vaccine study, latest in race
Testing of an experimental COVID-19 vaccine started in healthy volunteers in Britain Thursday, the latest in a cluster of early-stage studies in search of protection against the coronavirus.
University of Oxford researchers gave injections to volunteers in a report that eventually aims to add hundreds hoping of telling not merely if the vaccine is safe but if it works.
Researchers created the brand new vaccine by inserting genes for a spikey protein that studs the outer surface of the brand new coronavirus into another, harmless virus.
The theory: The immune system will spot the foreign protein and make antibodies to fight it, primed to react quickly if the person eventually is subjected to COVID-19.
These sorts of studies often give volunteers either the true vaccine or a dummy shot. But this experimental vaccine may briefly cause soreness and perhaps a minimal fever - meaning if a dummy shot was the comparison, the participants might work out who got genuine, said Dr. Andrew Pollard, among the Oxford chief researchers.
“That may influence people’s behavior, perhaps make sure they are more likely to come in contact with the virus,” which in turn would make it harder to prove if the vaccine worked, Pollard told The Associated Press.
Therefore the Oxford team decided half the volunteers will get an old vaccine against another disease which offers no COVID-19 protection but has similar shot unwanted effects.
“It seems just like the right thing to do - to ensure that we are able to combat this disease and overcome it a lot faster," volunteer Edward O’Neill told the BBC afterward.
Dozens of vaccine applicants are in a variety of stages of development all over the world. Experts have cautioned that even if early studies go well, it'll be at least a year before any are for sale to widespread use.
Among those making the most effective progress: China’s CanSino Biologics has begun the next phase of testing its vaccine candidate, made out of a strategy similar to Oxford’s.
Two U.S. companies are testing vaccines created from copies of a bit of the virus's genetic code. Two other Chinese candidates are being pursued that use older technology.
