By Ben Kerrigan-
Vaccine trials on humans will begin this Thursday, Health Secretary Matt Hancock has said. The Health Secretary pledged £22m available to Imperial to support their phase two trials. He said he would also be making is making £20m available to the Oxford team to accelerate their trials.
He added that the government is investing in manufacturing capability so, with the hope that it can be produced on large scale, if it proves successful. The Oxford Team led by Professor Sarah Gilbert has said it hopes to have at least a million doses of its vaccine ready in September, while Imperial hopes to start clinical trials in June.
“In normal times, reaching this stage would take years,” Matt Hancock said, adding how he is “very proud” the University of Oxford was able to make such progress. He said it was clear that the “best way to defeat coronavirus is through a vaccine”. Mr Hancock praised the “rapid progress” being made into vaccines by scientists at Oxford and Imperial College London.
He claimed the UK had “put more money than any other country into the global search for a vaccine”. He said , “two of the leading vaccine developments are taking place here at home at Oxford and Imperial”.
Mr Hancock said he had given his full support to scientists and promised to “back them to the hilt and give them every resource they need” in order to succeed. He said the benefits of getting a vaccine are so huge “that I am throwing everything at it”. He said the project at Imperial College London will receive £22.5 million to support its phase two clinical trials and Oxford University will be granted £20 million to fund its clinical trials, Mr Hancock said.
“Both of these promising projects are making rapid progress,” he added.
In a promising speech in which the Health Secretary said that the Uk is at the “front of the global effort” to find a vaccine that is effective against coronavirus, he said many of the signs looked positive. However, mr Hancock warned warned that there must be no relaxation of lockdown restrictions, until experts can be sure a second peak of the virus can be avoided.
He said that the nation owes it to those who have died with coronavirus not to “throw away the progress” made in the fight against the disease.“We’ve been clear that we will not risk lives by relaxing the social distancing rules before our five tests have been met,” he said.
“And most importantly that there is no risk of a second peak.”