Human trials are set to get underway on the first COVID-19 vaccine candidate, with reports one million doses could be ready as early as September for major clinical trials.
According to the Financial Times, developers at Oxford University's Jenner Institute will begin testing a vaccine on human volunteers next week and, if it is successful, hope to produce 100 million doses by the end of the year.
The news came ahead of the UK government's announcement of a vaccine task force, set up amid the outbreak.
Led by chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance, the group will work towards the "rapid development and production of a coronavirus vaccine", which will be made available to the public as soon as possible.
In addition to the government’s £250 million pledge to develop a vaccine, 21 new research projects combating coronavirus will receive a £14 million pot of investment to help speed up the process.
Speaking about a future vaccine on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Sir John Bell, a member of the Government’s vaccine task force and adviser on life sciences, said: “The real question is will it have efficacy?
“Will it protect people, and that has not been tested and it will only be tested once you have vaccinated a significant number of people and exposed them to the virus and counted how many people have got the virus in that population.
“So, we won’t even get a signal for that until May.
“But if things go on course and it does have efficacy, then I think it is reasonable to think that they would be able to complete their trial by mid-August.”
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