The University of Oxford is one of the front runners in the race to develop a vaccine for the novel Coronavirus. If everything goes as planned by the scientists at Oxford University, the COVID-19 vaccine may be out for use by as soon as October this year.
In parallel, pharmaceutical major AstraZeneca, responsible for producing the vaccine for the masses post the trials, is gearing up to quickly produce 30 million doses of the vaccine.
As per the “best scenario” as mentioned by a leading researcher, results from the clinical trials will be out by August or September and the vaccine will be on the market by October.
Serum Institute of India recently announced that it is going to manufacture vaccines for COVID-19 that are currently being developed by researchers at Oxford University. And Serum India, which is the largest vaccine producer in the world by volume, is also on record to sell COVID-19 vaccine for just Rs 1,000.
COVID-19 Vaccine By October 2020
The timeline was hinted at by Professor Adrian Hill, the director of the Jenner Institute at the University of Oxford, in a recent webinar of the Spanish Society of Rheumatology. Professor Hill re-assured everyone that the Oxford ChAdOx1 vaccine has been a success in animal trials and is now being tested on humans.
He said, “This vaccine has shown very good results in trials with chimpanzees, and has already moved on to the next phase of human trials
One of its advantages at the beginning was to demonstrate in previous tests that similar inoculations, including one last year against a previous coronavirus, were harmless to humans,” he further added.
A report by Express.co.uk quotes the professor, further stating that the vaccine at Oxford is the furthest along in human trials of all the vaccine candidates worldwide. As per the report, Britain would be the first nation to get a vaccine if the trials prove successful.
Oxford COVID-19 Vaccine Race
While the vaccine nears completion, researchers are still working on a ticking clock as the World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned of a resurgence in cases in many countries.
The warning by WHO was issued on Monday, as South Korea experienced a new wave of COVID-19. WHO epidemiologist and technical lead on the COVID-19 pandemic Maria Van Kerkhove said the Asian nation was not the only one in experiencing a second outbreak.
She said: “There are many countries right now that have had success in suppressing transmission and bringing human-to-human transmission to a low level that is starting to see increasing cases.”
“Any opportunity that the virus has to take hold, it will,” she added, urging countries to isolate such cases and prevent community transmission once again.
The vaccine by Oxford is not the only one under human trial as of now. Beijing-based China National Biotec Group Co. recently announced that it has received regulatory approval to test its potential COVID-19 vaccine on humans in the United Arab Emirates. As and when these vaccines are approved, mass production will be the next big step towards eliminating COVID-19 from the world.
