Trials begin on British coronavirus vaccine at Government’s secret science base Porton Down

Human and animal trials for a British vaccine against the coronavirus are set to begin next week at the Government’s secret science base Porton Down. 

Scientists will test the drug, made at Oxford University, on animals at the Wiltshire base before trialling on humans next month.

The Times reports that the Phase II trials will begin before the results of the animal trials are known, as the Crisis lurches into its next, dramatic phase.

However, experts have cautioned that a vaccine for Covid-19 – the illness caused by the novel Wuhan coronavirus – is not imminent.

Prof Robin Shattock, from Imperial College London, said that vaccines would not be made widely available until next year ‘at the earliest’, telling the BBC’s World at One yesterday: ‘The first part of testing is to check that it’s safe in humans in small numbers, and again induces the right sort of immune response. 

‘That will take, even if we do things quickly, two to three months.

He continued: ‘The next stage would be to ramp it up and start looking at whether the vaccine actually can prevent infection in the community. 

‘You need to produce the data to show a vaccine works and how well it works before you can get a licence to sell that as a product.’

Normally, larger Phase III trials are needed before a drug is clinically approved. In emergencies, however, such trial vaccines are released early for key workers.    

Oxford scientists hope the vaccine – which contains a section of genetic code from the coronavirus – will train the body to attack the virus.

Adrian Hill, director of Oxford’s Jenner Institute, said: “This is not a normal situation.’

He told The Guardian: ‘The more vaccine we can provide sooner, the better.”

The Oxford drug is one of multiple such proto-vaccines in development worldwide, as the number of positive tests worldwide exceeded 200,000. 

Human test subjects received a dose of a US vaccine developed by Kaiser Permanente Washington Research Institute in Seattle, MailOnline reported. 

Britons are bracing for an unprecedented national lockdown as Covid-19 has claimed 177 lives in total and infected nearly 4,000 people.

Government advisers believe the number of cases could be as many as 10,000.

Boris Johnson has instructed millions across the country, particularly in London, to follow Social Distancing Orders and work from home if possible.

Pubs, bars, restaurants, cinemas, theatres, gyms, and leisure centres were yesterday told to close up early for a preliminary fortnight.

A sombre-looking PM told a No 10 press briefing last night: ‘We’re taking away the ancient, inalienable right of free-born people of the United Kingdom to go to the pub, and I can understand how people feel about that.’