Some positive news on the vaccine front.
A coronavirus vaccine that has been developed by the University of Oxford appears to be “safe” and trains the immune system to fight the virus, according to recent trials.
Trials involving 1,077 people showed the injection led to the creation of antibodies and white blood cells that appear to be able to fight Covid-19.
According to the BBC, the UK has already ordered 100 million doses of the vaccine.
The vaccine is made from a genetically engineered virus that causes the common cold in chimpanzees.
It has been heavily modified so that it cannot cause infections in people.
Though this breakthrough is positive news, it is too soon to know for sure whether or not this will be enough to offer large-scale protection.
Experts on the subject have predicted that a coronavirus vaccine being ready by the beginning of 2021 would be an “optimistic scenario”, with 2021 also being described as a “best-case scenario”.
“We can see the possibility, if everything goes as planned, that some of them (vaccines) could be ready for approval in a year from now, so beginning of 2021,” said Marco Cavaleri, who heads the European Medical Agency’s vaccine division, speaking in May.
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