HUMAN TRIALS OF CORONAVIRUS VACCINE WILL BEGIN FROM TOMORROW SAYS, HEALTH SECRETARY

After days of wait, the UK government announced that the human trial of a potential COVID-19 vaccine which is being developed by researchers at University of Oxford will begin from Thursday (April 23). Last week, scientists at the University of Oxford promised to come up with a vaccine saying the vaccine will be available by September. 

Meanwhile, as per lead researcher Professor Sarah Gilbert, 'ChAdOx1' vaccine can work against the coronavirus called SARS-CoV-2. Recently, during a daily press conference, UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock, said the government will give 20 million pounds to the Oxford research team to help fund their clinical trials.

"The team have accelerated that trials process, working with the regulator the MHRA (Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Agency), who have been brilliant. As a result, I can announce that the vaccine from the Oxford project will be trialled in people from this Thursday," said Hancock. 

Normally, a vaccine takes between 12-18 months to be prepared and ready. Researchers, till date have enrolled over 500 healthy volunteers to test if their vaccine can prevent the novel coronavirus.

A member of the Oxford team, Professor Andrew Pollard, told Sky News "If you had a sailing wind and absolutely nothing goes wrong in all of that complex technical process and you have all the facilities available, you could have millions of doses by the autumn of this year."

Soon after this news went viral, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) also pitched for the Oxford vaccine, saying 'ChAdOX1' is the frontrunner in the race to take on the deadly COVID-19 virus.