Coronavirus vaccine could be ready by September with an 80% likelihood it will work, says Oxford University expert leading research team
- Sarah Gilbert was ’80 per cent confident’ development would work by autumn
- Last month she said she was hopeful it could be developed by the end of 2020
- But she confirmed optimistic scenario as human trials set to begin in two weeks
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Sarah Gilbert said she was ’80 per cent confident’ her team’s development would work by autumn
A coronavirus vaccine could be ready by September, it was reported last night.
Sarah Gilbert, an Oxford University professor currently leading Britain’s most advanced search for a vaccine, said she was ’80 per cent confident’ her team’s development would work by autumn.
Last month she was hopeful it could be developed by the end of 2020, but has now confirmed the most optimistic scenario after human trials look set to begin in the next fortnight.
The government has previously indicated it would fund the manufacture of millions of vaccine doses that looked promising in advance, allowing immediate availability to the public once developed.
Despite previous warnings a vaccine could take 18 months to produce, Professor Gilbert said the most bullish scenario for a working product was September ‘if everything goes perfectly’.
She told the Times: ‘I think there’s a high chance that it will work based on other things that we have done with this type of vaccine.
‘It’s not just a hunch and as every week goes by we have more data to look at. I would go for 80 percent, that’s my personal view.’
Her team, one of dozens around the world working to find a vaccine, will look to trial it in a country with a high virus transmission rate in order to obtain results quickly.
Britain’s lockdown makes it harder to test a vaccine due to the virus being unable to spread, she explained.
The vaccinologist said: ‘Nobody can promise it’s going to work.’
Her team were already in talks with the government (pictured, the Prime Minister on April 2) over production to avoid any delays, however, and avoid a second infection spike in autumn
Her team were already in talks with the government over production to avoid any delays, however, and avoid a second infection spike in autumn.
She said: ‘We don’t want to get to later this year and discover we have a highly effective vaccine and we haven’t got any vaccine to use.
‘We don’t think we need facilities built, there are facilities that can be switched over.’
Ministers have hinted that it may be worth spending tens of millions on a working vaccine to offset the economic cost of lockdown.