A microbiologist has become the first human to be injected for the human trial phase of a vaccine in the UK against the novel coronavirus being developed by a group of scientists at the University of Oxford.
Elisa Granato is the first volunteer in an initial group of800 to be part of the ground-breaking trial, which is hoped will be the answerfor immunisation against the deadly virus and help with the easing of lockdownmeasures in place to curb its rapid transmission.
“I’m a scientist, so I wanted to try to support thescientific process wherever I can,” Granato told the BBC as she wasinjected in Oxford, where the trial began this week.
“Since I don’t study viruses I felt a bit useless thesedays, so I felt like this is a very easy way for me to support the cause,” shesaid, as she was injected on her 32nd birthday on Thursday.
Granato is joined by cancer researcher Edward O’Neill as thefirst two candidates – one of whom has been injected with the Covid-19 vaccinebeing trialled and the other a control vaccine which protects againstmeningitis.
They will now be monitored for 48 hours to observe theimpact of each. Scientists will then gradually start injecting furthervolunteers, healthy individuals aged between 18 and 55, in a similarhalf-and-half process – with none of the participants aware which vaccine theyhave been injected with.
“Personally I have a high degree of confidence in thisvaccine,” said Sarah Gilbert, professor of vaccinology at the Universityof Oxford’s Jenner Institute, who is leading the research.
“Of course, we have to test it and get data fromhumans. We have to demonstrate it actually works and stops people gettinginfected with coronavirus before using the vaccine in the widerpopulation,” she said, adding that she remains “very optimistic” about theoutcome.
The team will know if the Covid-19 vaccine works bycomparing the number of people who get infected with coronavirus in the monthsahead from those in the trial.
Professor Andrew Pollard, director of the Oxford VaccineGroup, who is leading the trial, said: “We’re chasing the end of thiscurrent epidemic wave. If we don’t catch that, we won’t be able to tell whetherthe vaccine works in the next few months.
“But we do expect that there will be more cases in thefuture because this virus hasn’t gone away.”
The researchers started screening healthy volunteers inMarch for the “ChAdOx1 nCoV-19” vaccine trial in the Thames Valley Region ofEngland. ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 is made from a virus (ChAdOx1), which is a weakenedversion of a common cold virus (adenovirus) that causes infections inchimpanzees, that has been genetically changed so that it is impossible for itto grow in humans.
The aim of the human trial is to assess whether healthypeople can be protected from Covid-19 with this new vaccine called ChAdOx1nCoV-19. It will also provide valuable information on safety aspects of thevaccine and its ability to generate good immune responses against the deadlyvirus.
By vaccinating with ChAdOx1 nCoV-19, the Oxford Universityteam is hoping to make the body recognise and develop an immune response to thespike protein that will help stop the SARS-CoV-2 or Covid-19 virus fromentering human cells and therefore prevent infection.
Vaccines made from the ChAdOx1 virus have been given to morethan 320 people to date and have been shown to be safe and well tolerated,although they can cause temporary side effects, such as a temperature, headacheor sore arm.
Trial participants will be given an e-diary to record anysymptoms experienced for seven days after receiving the vaccine. They will alsorecord if they feel unwell for the following three weeks.
Following vaccination, participants will attend a series offollow-up visits. During these visits, the team will check participants’observations, take a blood sample and review the competed e-diary. These bloodsamples will be used to assess the immune response to the vaccine.
There is a theoretical risk that the virus could induce aserious reaction to coronavirus, but the scientists say that their datasuggests the risk of the vaccine producing an enhanced disease is minimal.
The team has already developed a vaccine against Mers,another type of coronavirus, using the same approach – and that had promisingresults in clinical trials.
The researchers are prioritising the recruitment of localhealthcare workers into the trial as they are more likely than others to beexposed to the virus. A larger trial, of about 5,000 volunteers, will start inthe coming months and will have no age limit. The Oxford University team isalso considering a vaccine trial in Africa, possibly in Kenya, where the ratesof transmission are growing from a lower base.
The optimistic time-frame being looked at for around amillion doses is by September. Deals have been done with UK and overseasmanufacturers to make the vaccine at scale, should it prove effective.
The UK government has pumped in an extra 20 million poundinto the University of Oxford trials and said that it is “throwing everything”at finding a vaccine against coronavirus, a crucial step to start lifting thestrict social distancing lockdown measures in place to suppress the spread ofthe deadly virus.