4 years ago
Volunteers have begun being immunized with a new UK coronavirus vaccine. About 300 people will have the vaccine over the coming weeks, as part of a trial led by Prof Robin Shattock and his colleagues, at Imperial College London.
Tests in animals suggest the vaccine is safe and triggers an effective immune response. Experts at Oxford University have already started human trials. The trials are among many across the world - there are around 120 vaccine programs under way.
After this first phase, another trial is being planned for October, involving 6,000 people. The Imperial team hopes the vaccine could be distributed in the UK and overseas from early 2021.
Many traditional vaccines are based on a weakened or modified form of virus, or parts of it, but the Imperial vaccine is based on a new approach, using synthetic strands of genetic code, called RNA, which mimic the virus.
Once injected into muscle, the RNA self-amplifies - generating copies of itself - and instructs the body's own cells to make copies of a spike protein found on the outside of the virus. This should train the immune system to recognize and fight coronavirus without having to develop Covid-19.
Because only a tiny amount of genetic code is used in the Imperial vaccine, a little goes a very long way. The Imperial team says one litre of its synthetic material will be enough to produce two million doses. The research has been funded by £41m from the UK government, as well as £5m of other donations.
