On Monday (Mar 16), the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) in the United States announced that the first novel coronavirus vaccine trial in the United States officially gave its first dose to a participant in the study.
With the world in the grips of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, and more than 190,000 people affected and more than 7,500 fatalities globally, developing a vaccine for the virus is crucial.
Thus far, there is no vaccine for the coronavirus, a problem that scientists and experts all over the world have been working toward answering.
The vaccine trial, which is backed financially by NIAID and operated out of the Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute in Seattle, US, gave its first dose of the vaccine to one of the study’s participants.
The study will involve 45 healthy adult volunteers from the ages of 18 to 55 and will last for approximately six weeks, with participants receiving two injections about one month apart in varying doses.
NIAID Director Dr. Anthony Fauci said in a statement on Monday that finding a vaccine is an “urgent public health priority”.
“Finding a safe and effective vaccine to prevent infection with [the novel coronavirus] is an urgent public health priority,” NIAID Director Dr. Anthony Fauci said. “This Phase I study, launched in record speed, is an important first step toward achieving that goal.”