A Nottingham expert has given his verdict on the University of Oxford's "very encouraging" coronavirus vaccine trials.
Medical researchers and scientists have been quick to praise the trial as preliminary results have suggested it is both safe and also causes few side effects.
The trial shows the vaccine "evokes strong immune responses", according to Professor Fiona Watt, executive chairwoman of the Medical Research Council, which helped to fund the trial.
She said the next stage will be for the results from larger trials, which are currently taking place, to find out if the vaccine protects people from the virus.
Responding to the initial results from the trials, Professor Jonathan Ball, professor of molecular virology at the University of Nottingham, said: "The results of the Oxford chimp adenovirus vaccine candidate show that the vaccine is able to generate antibodies and T cells in humans and these persisted for several weeks.
"Whilst encouraging there is still a long way to go before we can herald the arrival of a successful coronavirus vaccine."
Since the start of the the pandemic there has been a total of 1,195 confirmed cases in the city of Nottingham and 3,009 in Nottinghamshire.
