A United States government official has said that a clinical trial evaluating a vaccine designed to protect against the new coronavirus will begin this week.
According to the official the first participant in the trial will receive the experimental vaccine on Monday.
The American media reported that the official who spoke on condition of anonymity said the National Institutes of Health is funding the trial.
The trial of the potential vaccine is taking place at a Kaiser Permanente research facility in Washington state, the official said.
Testing of the vaccine will begin with 45 young, healthy volunteers with different doses of shots co-developed by NIH and Moderna Inc.
According to officials there’s no chance participants could get infected from the shots, since they don’t contain the virus itself.
The goal is purely to check that the vaccines show no worrisome side effects, setting the stage for larger tests.
But health officials say it will take a year to 18 months to fully validate any potential vaccine.
The world at a standstill
The world is currently at a standstill as many countries around the world struggle to contain the spread of the coronavirus.
Over 180,000 people have been infected by the virus with over 5,000 deaths so far.
In Africa, over 26 countries have reported of the virus with over 270 cases recorded so far in total.
Many African countries have imposed travel bans meant to prevent further spread of the coronavirus within their jurisdictions.
There are at least six deaths so far from the outbreak in Africa although the numbers are relatively low compared to other continents.
But travel bans have been enforced across many African states.
Some of the African countries that have imposed travel restrictions are Ghana, South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania, Djibouti, Morocco, Tunisia, Libya, Algeria and Mozambique.
Apart from travel bans, some of these countries have also banned religious activities, shuts schools and asked employers to allow employees to work from home.
There are indications more African countries will soon also announce travel bans as the continent ensures that the spread of the virus is kept at a low rate.
Over the weekend, Central African Republic, Eswatini, Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Seychelles also announced first cases.
The World Health Organization said it is “supporting countries with surveillance, diagnostics and treatment.”
Source: Africafeeds.com
