BioNTech and its partner Pfizer have been received approval from the Paul-Ehrlich-Institute to begin testing a variety of experimental vaccines on 200 healthy volunteers aged between 18 and 55.
“This is a good signal that the development of a vaccine in Germany has progressed enough to start the first studies,” said Health Minister Jens Spahn.
He warned that the process would take months.
British scientists are also at the forefront of vaccine research, backed by a total of £44.5 million (€51 million) in government funds.
A team at Oxford University is beginning clinical trials from April 23, with tests to be carried out on 1,112 people who will be divided into two groups. Scientists want to stimulate the immune system to attack the virus.
A separate study at Imperial College London will use a different approach: using droplets of liquid to carry genetic material into a patient’s bloodstream, replicating the coronavirus and forcing the immune system to learn how to fight it.
“We have to work out whether or not these vaccines work,” Professor Andrew Pollard of the Oxford Vaccine Centre told Euronews. “There are… important questions from the trials, first of all about safety: what sort of reactions are likely to happen to the vaccine, that’s why we need to get on and start the testing in humans.”
It’s hoped the results of the two UK trials could be known as early as September.
Authorities say the coronavirus crisis will linger until there’s a safe and reliable vaccine available to the general public. The process normally takes years, and even in the current emergency experts warn that it could take many months.
