People from Portsmouth, Fareham and Gosport wanted to test new Covid-19 vaccine

The University of Oxford has started the process for its upcoming vaccine trial, known as ChAdOx1 nCoV-19.

The vaccine is already in production but won’t be ready for several weeks.

The team will enrol healthy volunteers aged between 18 – 55, who, if they pass screening, will be the first humans to test the new vaccine.

Volunteers are being sought from across Hampshire including Portsmouth, Fareham and Gosport postcodes.

The trial will provide valuable information on safety of the vaccine and testing immune response against the virus.

Up to 510 volunteers will receive either the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine or a control injection for comparison.

Professor Adrian Hill, director of the Jenner Institute the University of Oxford, said: ‘The Oxford team had exceptional experience of a rapid vaccine response, such as to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa in 2014.

‘This is an even greater challenge. Vaccines are being designed from scratch and progressed at an unprecedented rate. The upcoming trial will be critical for assessing the feasibility of vaccination against Covid-19 and could lead to early deployment.’

Professor Andrew Pollard, chief investigator on the study, said: ‘Starting the clinical trials is the first step in the efforts to find out whether the new vaccine being developed at Oxford University works and could safely play a central role in controlling the pandemic coronavirus that is sweeping the globe.’

Anyone interested can find out more here.

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