LONDON—Oxford University is launching a human trial of a potential coronavirus vaccine, with the daunting aim of making a successful jab available to the public later this year.
The British government strongly supports Oxford University’s work, and the first human trials were to start on Thursday, Health Minister Matt Hancock said. The volunteers are aged between 18 and 55, are in good health, have not tested positive for COVID-19 and are not pregnant or breastfeeding.Professor Sarah Gilbert’s team hopes for an 80 percent success rate, and plans to produce one million doses by September, with the aim of making it widely available by the autumn if successful.
The strategy of not waiting for each step to be completed before launching production is a financial “gamble,” according to Nicola Stonehouse, professor of molecular virology at the University of Leeds.The Oxford vaccine is based on a chimpanzee adenovirus, which is modified to produce proteins in human cells that are also produced by COVID-19.