UK scientists to immunize hundreds with coronavirus vaccine

Lab tests showed they all had developed antibodies capable of neutralizing the virus after a single shot.

The Gamaleya Institute has been working on an adenovirus-based vaccine.

Johnson & Johnson on Thursday kicked off USA human safety trials for its COVID-19 vaccine after releasing details of a study in monkeys that showed its best-performing vaccine candidate offered strong protection in a single dose.

"The trials began under the supervision of physician Dr Ajit Pratap Singh and gynaecologist and obstetrician Dr Sona Ghosh and the vaccine has been administered to 9 volunteers so far", Chief Administrative Officer of the hospital, Venketesh Chaturvedi said.

This means that after the registration one more clinical study of the vaccine will be conducted on 1,600 people.

Out of seven prototypes tested in the study, it found that Ad26-S.PP had the highest levels of neutralising antibodies to fight infection.

Six weeks after immunization, all animals were exposed to SARS-CoV-2. But in a pandemic a single-shot vaccine has a significant advantage, sidestepping a lot of the logistical issues involved in getting people to come back for their second dose. "Still, a two-shot vaccine will likely be more immunogenic, and thus both regimens are being evaluated in clinical trials".

Russian Federation is behind other developing vaccines that are in the third phase of their trials, as they will complete their second phase on August 3, and the third phase will be running when the medical workers are vaccinated.

He said doctors and teachers would be the first to be vaccinated.

However, Russia is yet to release the scientific data on its coronavirus vaccine trials, hence, questions remain about the safety and efficacy of the vaccine, said the report.

"The findings give us confidence as we progress our vaccine development and upscale manufacturing in parallel, having initiated a Phase 1/2a trial in July with the intention to move into a Phase 3 trial in September".