Coronavirus: Vaccine testing could see results by ‘mid-August’

'If we can see evidence of a strong immune response by the middle or the end of May, then I think the game is on', government task force member says

Professor Sir John Bell, a member of the Government's vaccine task force and an adviser on life sciences, has confirmed a potential vaccine has been trialled (AFP/Getty)

Human testing towards a coronavirus vaccine could see results as soon as mid-August, a member of the government’s inoculation taskforce has confirmed.

Finding a vaccine has been a key part of the global response to the Covid-19 coronavirus since it emerged late last year - with scientists frantically working to find a way to mitigate the virus which has infected more than 2.2 million and killed more than 150,000 across the planet.

Now Professor Sir John Bell, a member of the government's vaccine task force and an adviser on life sciences, has said while the possibility the vaccine will be able to protect the population will take time to prove, a trial underway at Oxford University trial could be completed by the middle of August.

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “The real question is will it have efficacy?

"Will it protect people, and that has not been tested and it will only be tested once you have vaccinated a significant number of people and exposed them to the virus and counted how many people have got the virus in that population.

"So, we won't even get a signal for that until May.

"But if things go on course and it does have efficacy, then I think it is reasonable to think that they would be able to complete their trial by mid-August."

The scientist, who is working alongside other experts to advise the government in how to best support the roll out of the vaccination, added that the UK alone did not have the capacity to mass produce the virus at the scale needed.

He added: "If we can see evidence of a strong immune response by the middle or the end of May, then I think the game is on.

"Then, of course, there is the massive issue of how you manufacture at scale many billions of doses."

This article has been amended to reflect that the Oxford University study had not yet begun trialling the vaccine on human test subjects at the time of publication.