Trials for a potential Coronavirus vaccine are set to begin this week.
Everyone is hoping the vaccine is safe and effective.
The researchers at Imperial College London were happy to announce that human trials were beginning this week, and if successful, the vaccine will be one of the most cost efficient vaccines there is. If successful, 1 litre of vaccine will be able to treat around 200 million people, which is about £3 a head researchers say. This means that the size of the injection is rather small, which is good for those scared or big needles! The vaccine contains roughly a thousandth of a thousandth of virus RNA, and is injected directly into the muscle. Because of the cost of the vaccine, and the small amount needed to vaccinate a person, it could be produced in large quantity very quickly.
A professor from the college said “It really is a tiny dose, that’s very good from a safety point of view but also in terms of production — it makes it much easier to scale up.”
The researchers have said they will make the vaccine easily accessible to the poorer members of society, who also seem to be more susceptible to the virus, other researchers suggests.
Researchers are hoping this isn’t too good to be true however, as mice who’ve had the shots show antibodies that are able to fight off the virus. And the low cost of the vaccine makes it very efficient and a great discovery.
The thought is that multiple vaccine shots will be needed, and if the Coronavirus is seasonal or the antibodies are short lived, booster shots will easily be provided to patients, because of the small dose and low costs.
120 people are expected to be recruited for the phase 1 trial, which will test the vaccines safety, and once approval is given today as expected, jabs should start be given to those in the trial within the next 48 hours.
