Germany and the UK have decided to go ahead with plans for clinical trials using human volunteers in the race for a vaccine against coronavirus.
“The Paul Ehrlich Institute… has authorised the first clinical trial of a vaccine against COVID-19 in Germany,” said the federal institute for vaccines in a statement. On Wednesday PAUL Ehrlich Institute in Germany approved trials for a vaccine developed by local firm BioNTech and US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer.
Trials will start with 200 healthy volunteers aged between 18 and 55 years who will be vaccinated with variants of the RNA vaccine and that will be followed by the second phase which will include volunteers from high-risk groups.
The PEI and the developers have not said when the trials will begin.
This trial is the fourth worldwide prevention method that’s targeting coronavirus. The virus has killed over 177, 000 people and infected about 2.5 million.
Meanwhile in the UK, scientists will soon begin recruiting volunteers for a clinical trial on a second vaccine that is set to begin in June with Imperial College London.
For this trial, healthy volunteers between the age of 18 and 55 years are being sought and this is expected to last six months.
“Personally, I have a high degree of confidence. And I think, it has a very strong chance of working,” said Oxford team leader Prof. Sarah Gilbert.
Leave a Reply