UK coronavirus vaccine testing will start this Thursday as Government announces £40m funding to back scientists Matt Hancock promised to do ‘everything in our power’ to support scientists working on a vaccine for the virus

Human vaccine trials for Covid-19 will begin on Thursday, in a bid to make the UK the first country to create a drug to provide immunity against the disease, the Health Secretary announced.

Matt Hancock said human tests on a vaccine developed by Oxford University will start on Thursday, an outcome that would normally take “several years” to achieve.

The news marks a major breakthrough in the battle against coronavirus, and potentially offers the Government a way out of the crisis that has crippled the country.

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Should the trials prove successful, the focus will turn to how the vaccine can be manufactured at scale to start treating the population and stop the spread of Covid-19.

Vaccine projects ‘making rapid progress’

Mr Hancock praised the speed at which scientists had worked on the vaccine trials, pointing out that reaching the stage of testing on humans would normally take considerably longer.

“In normal times, reaching this stage would take years and I’m very proud of the work taken so far,” he said, adding that both trials were “making rapid progress”.

He went on: “At the same time, we will invest in manufacturing capability so that if either of these vaccines safely work, we can make it available for the British people as soon as humanely possible.”

The Health Secretary said the Government would do “everything in our power” to support the work, and announced it will provide £20m in additional funding to help with clinical trials. A further £22.5m will be provided for trial of a second vaccine, at Imperial College, London.

£40m funding

Mr Hancock said the process for finding a vaccine would take “trial and error” but he has told UK scientists leading the search he would “back them to the hilt and give them every resource they need”.

“After all, this is a new disease, this is uncertain science but I’m certain we will throw everything we’ve got at developing a vaccine,” he said.

“The UK is at the front of the global effort. We have put more money than any other country into a global search for a vaccine and, for all the efforts around the world, two of the leading vaccine developments are taking place here at home – at Oxford and Imperial.

“Both of these promising projects are making rapid progress and I’ve told the scientists leading them we will do everything in our power to support.”

A Cabinet source said the Government was throwing everything it had to try to develop a vaccine as quickly as possible.

“We’re running trial phases with as much risk as we can to try and create a safe and viable vaccine in the shortest possible time frame,” the source said.

“This is because it is clear that the most effective way to get out of this situation is by developing immunity and a vaccine is the safest way we can achieve that.”

Call for volunteers

The Imperial College NHS Trust are looking for healthy volunteers to participate in a #COVID19 #vaccine trial, for which they will receive up to £190-£625 reimbursement for time, travel and contribution to the trial. (1/2) — Imperial Medicine (@ImperialMed) April 21, 2020

The Imperial College London project will be given £22.5 million which will support its phase two clinical trials.

The study at and Oxford University will be given the £20 million to fund its clinical trials which will begin on humans for the first time.

The project at Imperial, led by the university’s Department of Infectious Diseases, is appealing for volunteers – healthy people aged between 18 and 55 – to take part.

Successful applicants would be paid up to £625 for taking part in the vaccine trial.

PPE sourcing across the UK

It provides the Government with some welcome good news after sustained criticism over its failure to provide sufficient personal protective equipment (PPE) for NHS staff, and the slow increase of testing capacity for coronavirus.

Mr Hancock sought to defend the sourcing and distribution of PPE to frontline health workers and said the Government was working with 159 UK manufacturers to supply additional protective kit.

The daily death rate by Covid-19 in hospitals increased significantly to 852 people – up from 449. It brings the total number of deaths from the virus to 17,366.

Jonathan Van Tam, the deputy chief medical officer, said the data showed that London had reached its peak for hospital admissions around 10 April.

However, he warned: “We are not yet out of danger. The curve is flat, but it is not very clearly going down across the country.”