UK to run final stage trials of Janssen Covid vaccine

Britain will be the first country to run final stage trials of an experimental coronavirus vaccine being developed by the pharmaceutical company Janssen.

Scientists will begin recruiting some 6,000 people across the UK on Monday for the 12-month trial. The research will start first in Britain but aims to recruit a total of 30,000 people in six countries around the world.

Janssen is a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson.

The vaccine shot uses a harmless cold virus to deliver the spike protein of the coronavirus into the body, which scientists hope will prompt an immune response.

Half of the people in the new UK study will be given a placebo vaccine of saline.

Researchers are hoping to recruit people from groups disproportionately affected by COVID-19, including older people and those of ethnic minorities.

The Jannsen vaccine is among the six experimental coronavirus vaccines that Britain has ordered as part of a planned 350 million-dose stockpile.