Promising Coronavirus Vaccine Finds Surreal Issue: Too Few Community Infections

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Professor Adrian Hill, a researcher at Oxford University, said in an interview that the promising coronavirus vaccine under development has only a 50 percent chance of success. This is Hill’s effort to show that nothing is guaranteed, despite the high expectations surrounding his research.

Hill told British newspaper The Telegraph that his team had run into an issue that could hinder the initial September deadline for the distribution of vaccines. The setback is odd – the reduction in the rate of community contagion in the UK decreases the number of potential infected volunteers. Without enough people to test, scientists may never determine whether the vaccine makes a difference.

The Oxford research group pledged to finalize in August the vaccine’s clinical trials, which have already been administered to 1,100 volunteers by late April. On April 23rd, the researchers injected the vaccine into the first 320 volunteers. It is basically a combination of the chimpanzee adenovirus and the genetic material of a protein found on the surface of the coronavirus – used to infect human cells.

Hill told The Telegraph that 10,000 people volunteered to test the vaccine. “We’re in a race against time,” he said. “Right now there’s a 50-50 chance we won’t reach any results. We’re in the bizarre position of wanting Covid to remain, at least longer.”

The professor cautioned about the risk of excessive promises and said he does not recommend the taking British holidays in October. The results of a first trial will be released in early June.

The race for a coronavirus vaccine has prompted China to plan to distribute batches regardless of whether trials have been completed. Distribution schedules range from September, as is (or was) the case in Oxford, to mid-next year.

Currently the world records 2.8 million active coronavirus patients, two percent of whom in critical condition. The United Kingdom ranks fifth with the most confirmed cases to date, 257,000. But the number of recent cases and deaths is dropping – there were 3,000 cases in the last 24 hours.

Last week AstraZeneca Pharmaceutical announced a US$1.2 billion deal with the US government to produce 400 million doses of the vaccine still in trial. The British government has already agreed to buy 100 million doses of the vaccine, 30 million of which would be ready by September.

Source: Exame