The first human trial of hAdOx1 nCoV-19. Oxford Vaccine Group vaccine.
YouTube / University of Oxford
Oxford scientists working on a coronavirus vaccine say the chances of success are now 50%.
They say it is because the number of people with the virus in the UK is decreasing too quickly.
“At the moment there is a 50% chance that we will not get any results,” said scientist Adam Hill this weekend.
His colleague Sir John Bell said that vaccine scientists may have to “hunt” COVID-19 in Britain.
Scientists from Oxford have teamed up with drug maker AstraZeneca Plc to develop an experimental vaccine called ChAdOx1 nCoV-19.
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Scientists involved in one of the world’s leading research into a coronavirus vaccine say there is currently only a 50% chance of success as the number of people with the virus in Britain is declining too fast.
Oxford University’s mission to find a vaccine against COVID-19 virus is “in a race against the disappearance of the virus and against time,” said Adam Hill, director of the Jenner Institute, this weekend. from the University of Oxford.
Hill told The Telegraph that the number of people living with the virus in the UK is declining at a rate which means there may not be enough people to test the experimental vaccine known as ChAdOx1 nCoV-19.
“At the moment there is a 50% chance that we will not get any results,” he said.
Hill’s colleague Sir John Bell, Regius professor of medicine at the University of Oxford, made the same observation during a weekend interview with The Times of London.
“You wouldn’t start [trials] in London now, for sure, “Bell told the newspaper. Coronavirus cases in the English capital are currently decreasing faster than anywhere else in the country.
Bell said scientists may have to “hunt” the virus across the country for vaccine trials to be successful.
“The latest figures show 634 confirmed cases in the capital in the past two weeks,” Bell told the newspaper.
“In contrast, there was an increase of 163 only on Friday in the north-west of England, bringing the total in the region to 24,295 confirmed cases.
The story continues
“The question is: can you drive the disease away in the UK? Then there is the question of whether you are pursuing it internationally. “
Oxford scientists are working with global pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca Plc to produce the vaccine. It is one of many studies around the world aimed at developing a vaccine against the COVID-19 virus.
The Oxford Vaccine Group says it hopes to complete human trials of the hAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine in September.
The first two humans received the vaccine late last month. About 1,100 people in the UK are expected to participate in the trial, which is funded by the British government of Boris Johnson.
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