Oxford begins human vaccine trial for Covid-19

University of Oxford (UK) researchers have begun a phase I trial, funded by UKRI and NIHR, to test a new Coronavirus vaccine in human volunteers. ChAdOx1 nCoV-19, will determine whether healthy people can be protected from COVID-19 while providing valuable information on the safety aspects of this new vaccine and its ability to generate good immune responses against the virus.

Around 1,110 people will take part in the trial, half receiving the vaccine and the control group receiving a widely available meningitis vaccine. Of the first two volunteers to take part on Thursday April 23, one received the vaccine and the other the control.

The researchers started screening healthy volunteers (aged 18-55) in March for their upcoming trial. The UKRI/DHSC/NIHR rapid response funding for the project, led by Professor Sarah Gilbert at the University of Oxford, supported preclinical testing of the new vaccine and is supporting vaccine manufacturing and then clinical trials in people.

“It is truly inspiring to see the team led by Professor Sarah Gilbert putting their coronavirus vaccine into early-stage clinical trials in humans so quickly,” said MRC Executive Chair, Professor Fiona Watt. “The speed at which the UKRI-funded teams at the University of Oxford and Imperial College London have developed potential coronavirus vaccines is unprecedented.”

The ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine is made from a weakened version of a common cold virus (adenovirus) that has been genetically changed so that it is impossible for it to grow in humans.

Genetic material has been added to the ChAdOx1 construct that is used to make proteins from the COVID-19 virus (SARS-CoV-2) called Spike glycoprotein (S). This protein is usually found on the surface of SARS-CoV-2 and plays an essential role in the infection pathway of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus uses its spike protein to bind to ACE2 receptors on human cells to gain entry to the cells and cause an infection.

By vaccinating with ChAdOx1 nCoV-19, researchers are hoping to make the body recognise and develop an immune response to the Spike protein that will help stop the SARS-CoV-2 virus from entering human cells and therefore prevent infection.

Vaccines made from the ChAdOx1 virus have been given to more than 320 people to date and have been shown to be safe and well tolerated, although they can cause temporary side effects, such as a temperature, headache or sore arm, the University of Oxford reports.