A group of volunteers in the United States have become the first to receive doses of a potential vaccine for the COVID-19 virus. Jennifer Haller, Neal Browning, and Rebecca Sirull received the first doses on Monday at the Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute in Seattle.


The volunteers – who are all healthy and young and therefore at lower risk of serious complications – will be given two injections 28 days apart to test the vaccine’s safety.

Jennifer Haller, aged 43, was the first to receive an injection of the potential vaccine. She told the Associated Press: “We all feel so helpless. This is an amazing opportunity for me to do something.”

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Second to receive the injection out of the group of 45 volunteers was Neal Browning, while Rebecca Sirull was the third.

UK scientists are among others around the world working on a vaccine aimed at preventing outbreaks similar to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Researchers from the University of Plymouth have made progress in developing vaccines designed to prevent infections jumping from animals to humans.


A vaccine to stop COVID-19 is not expected to be available for another 12 to 18 months, with a recent Imperial College London report warning that drastic tactics to suppress the disease may need to remain in place until one is found.