GOODNEWS! Coronavirus vaccine trial begins, two persons injected

Two of the 800 recruited volunteers for the test of the COVID- 19 vaccine have been injected. This is the first  trial in Europe and it took place in Oxford, Britain.

The vaccine, which was developed by an Oxford university team, led by Sarah Gilbert, professor of vaccinology at the Jenner Institute, was developed under three months and scientists have said that there are signs that it would be effective.

According to a report, half of the volunteers will receive COVID- 19 vaccine while the other half will receive a control vaccine which protects against meningitis. As it stands, even though the doctors injecting them would know the particular one the volunteers are being injected, the volunteers will not know the vaccine they are getting.

Elisa Granato, one of the two who received the jab, told the BBC: “I’m a scientist, so I wanted to try to support the scientific process wherever I can.”

“Personally I have a high degree of confidence in this vaccine,” she said.

“Of course, we have to test it and get data from humans. We have to demonstrate it actually works and stops people getting infected with coronavirus before using the vaccine in the wider population.”

Professor Gilbert who had previously stated that she had “80 percent confidence” in the vaccine have now maintained that she is “very optimistic” about its chances.

The Oxford team, having developed a vaccine against Mers, another type of coronavirus, made the vaccine from a weakened version of a common cold virus (known as an adenovirus) from chimpanzees that has been modified so it cannot grow in humans.

Professor Andrew Pollard, director of the Oxford Vaccine Group, who is leading the trial, said: “We’re chasing the end of this current epidemic wave. If we don’t catch that, we won’t be able to tell whether the vaccine works in the next few months. But we do expect that there will be more cases in the future because this virus hasn’t gone away.”

The only way the team will know if the trial is a success is by comparing the number of people who get infected with coronavirus in the months ahead from the two arms of the trial.