While most research teams have started with small clinical trials on a few hundred patients, scientists at the university’s Jenner Institute are scheduled to test their new coronavirus vaccine on more than 6,000 people by the end of May.

The institute had a head start, having already proved that similar inoculations did not harm humans. If the vaccine is effective and approved by regulators, the scientists say, the first doses of it could be available by September.

Details: Six rhesus macaque monkeys inoculated with the Oxford vaccine and exposed to the virus were healthy 28 days later. The exposure had consistently sickened other monkeys in the lab — a promising, though not guaranteed, sign.

Go deeper: Doctors in the U.S. are performing trials of estrogen as a treatment for male patients, theorizing that the hormone is helping women survive the virus.

In other news:

Here are the latest updates and maps of the pandemic.

The Times is providing free access to much of our coronavirus coverage, and our Coronavirus Briefing newsletter — like all of our newsletters — is free. Please consider supporting our journalism with a subscription.