Coronavirus vaccine trial to start in UK on April 23
A vaccine for the novel coronavirus developed by the University of Oxford is set for the trial on people for the first time on April 23, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Matt Hancock stated.
As per the secretary, the government working to develop a new successful vaccine. Reportedly, two of the leading vaccine developments around the world are taking place in the UK, at the universities of Oxford and Imperial College.
"I can announce that the vaccine from the Oxford project will be trialled in people from this Thursday. In normal times, reaching this stage would take years and I am very proud of the work taken so far," Hancock stated at a press conference on the government's Twitter.
The secretary said that the government has allocated 44.5 million pounds ($54.6 million) to both Oxford University and Imperial College to fund scientists' clinical trials, which were "making rapid progress." Meanwhile, the authorities will finance manufacturing capability so that if either of these vaccines works safely, we can make it available for the British people as soon as humanely possible, he added.
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As of Tuesday, the UK has reported 129,044 cases of coronavirus since the start of the COVID 19 outbreak. In total, 17,337 deaths have been reported so far.
-PTC News
