UK begins trial of latest virus vaccine candidate this week

Scientists at Imperial College London will start immunising people in Britain this week with ir experimental coronavirus shot, becoming latest entry into race to find an effective vaccine to stop pandemic.

In a statement on Monday, British government said 300 healthy people will be immunized with two doses of COVID-19 vaccine candidate developed at Imperial, which has been backed by 41 million pounds (USD51 million) in government funding.

So far, vaccine candidate developed by Imperial College London has only been tested in animals and in laboratory, where it produced much higher levels of antibodies than would rmally be seen in infected people.

Many scientists have warned that pandemic might only be stopped with an effective vaccine, which typically takes years to develop.

“In long term, a viable vaccine could be vital for protecting most vulnerable, enabling restrictions to be eased and helping people get back to rmal life,” said Robin Shattock, who is leing vaccine research.

vaccine uses syntic strands of genetic code based on virus. Once injected into muscle, body's own cells are instructed to make copies of a spiky protein on coronavirus. That should in turn trigger an immune response so that body can fight off any future COVID-19 infection.

About a dozen vaccine candidates are currently in early sts of testing in thousands of people. re are guarantees any will work but re's increasing hope that at least some could be rey by end of year.

Oxford University recently began an vanced study involving 10,000 volunteers, and US is preparing for even larger studies in July that involve 30,000 people each testing different candidates, including Oxford's and one me by National Institutes of Health and Moderna Inc.

Scientists have never created vaccines from scratch this fast and it's far from clear that any will ultimately prove safe and effective. Still, numerous countries, including Britain, France, Germany, Nerlands and US, have alrey placed vance orders for millions of vaccines that could be available by end of year if y prove to be effective.

World Health Organization ted on Monday that re have been about 100,000 new cases reported every day for past two weeks and that relaxed restrictions in many countries have led to a new surge of cases.