COVID-19 vaccine trial on humans starts in UK

Scientists in Britain are set to begin trials of a potential COVID-19 vaccine on humans on Thursday. This comes in the wake of the government warning it could have to rely on restrictions until next year assuming no vaccine or treatment is found before then.

The human vaccine trial has been developed by scientists at Oxford University's Jenner Institute and will begin Thursday. It is hoped about a million doses could be ready by September.

England's Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty has said the probability of having a vaccine or treatment "anytime in the next calendar year" is "incredibly small."

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"Vaccines made from the ChAdOx1 virus have been given to more than 320 people to date and have been shown to be safe and well tolerated, although they can cause temporary side effects, such as a temperature, headache or sore arm," according to the University of Oxford.

The UK has been under a lockdown, with restrictions on leaving the house except for essential reasons and daily exercise in force since March 23.

To this end, the government has repeatedly promised the UK will test 1,00,000 people for coronavirus per day by the end of April.

Meanwhile, in order to carry out another study, the UK plans to enlist up to 3,00,000 people to a major long-term study to track the spread of coronavirus in the population, and understand the levels of immunity.

READ FULL STORY | Britain to test prevalence of coronavirus in general population