New coronavirus vaccine trials start in Southampton today

The vaccine is one of three being trialled in the UK


Trials of a new coronavirus vaccine will start in Southampton today.

The vaccine is being developed by pharmaceutical company Jassen and its Phase 3 clinical trials begin today across the UK. The trials will involve 6,000 volunteers across the country.

The trials will take place in 17 sites across the country including Southampton, Manchester, Cardiff, London, and Belfast. The trial will last for 12 months.

Saul Faust, professor of paediatric immunology and infectious diseases at the University of Southampton and University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We just don’t know how each of these vaccines is going to behave and which are going to generate the better short and long-term immunity.”

This vaccine will be the third potential vaccine to enter clinical trials in the UK. The other vaccines are those from US biotech company Novavax and one by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca.

The government has secured 30 million does of the Jassen vaccine if it is deemed safe and effective.

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