Scientists at Imperial College London state that they are immunizing hundreds of patients with a new coronavirus vaccine at an early stage because they have found no significant health issues with a limited number of individuals who have been vaccinated so far.
Dr. Robin Shattock, a professor at the institution, told The Associated Press that he and his collaborators have only completed a rather long and arduous phase of studying the vaccine at a small dosage in the initial participants and are now expanding the experiment to around 300 individuals, some of them over 75 years of age.
Since COVID-19 outbreaks have fallen significantly in England, making it impossible to decide whether or not the vaccine works, Shattock said that he and his team are now planning to check their vaccine elsewhere.
Imperial vaccination utilizes synthetic strands of the virus-based genetic code. When inserted into the muscle, the body’s own cells are directed to create copies of the spiky protein of the coronavirus. This will, in effect, activate an immune response such that the body will ward off any potential infection with COVID-19.
Earlier this week, the biggest coronavirus vaccine trial started in the United States, with the first of 30,000 participants expected to be immunized with shots produced by the US National Institutes of Health and Moderna Inc.
Several other vaccines developed by China and the UK’s Oxford University focused on separate vaccine technology, started smaller final-stage testing earlier this month in Brazil and other hard-hit countries.
The World Health Organization has reported that multiple vaccine strategies are required for COVID-19, noting that the average rate of success for vaccine production is about 10%.
