The first human
trial of a potential coronavirus vaccine is set to commence in the U.S. on
Monday. A group of 45 healthy volunteers will be injected with a harmless
genetic code copied from the coronavirus. It is worth noting that the shots
will not cause Covid-19 in the volunteers as they do not contain the virus
itself. This is a key difference between the Covid-19 trial vaccine and typical
vaccines for viruses such as measles which are made from a weakened or killed
virus. The volunteers will be given two jabs in total, into the upper arm, 28
days apart.
The vaccine trial
which is taking place at the Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research
Institute in Seattle is being funded by the National Institutes of Health.
Health officials say it will take 12 to 18 months to fully validate any
potential vaccine. Moderna Therapeutics is the biotechnology company behind the
vaccine and they say a tested and tried process was used in making the vaccine.
"This
vaccine uses pre-existing technology." said Dr John Tregoning, an
expert in infectious diseases at Imperial College London, UK.
"It's been
made to a very high standard, using things that we know are safe to use in
people and those taking part in the trial will be very closely monitored.
"Yes, this
is very fast - but it is a race against the virus, not against each other as
scientists, and it's being done for the benefit of humanity."
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