Researchers from University Hospital Southampton (UHS) and the University of Southampton are hosting the next phase of Imperial College London’s COVID-19 vaccine trial after the programme was expanded to additional sites throughout England.
The ground-breaking vaccine is being trialled on participants aged 18-75 in six additional centres including Southampton.
“We’re pleased that Southampton is now playing an active role in the development and testing of the Imperial vaccine,” said Professor Saul Faust who is also leading Southampton’s efforts in support of the Oxford vaccine trial. “Vaccines are the most effective way of controlling outbreaks of the coronavirus and the global efforts currently underway to ensure that these vaccines are safe and effective are vital steps towards delivering a suitable vaccine in the months ahead.”
The Imperial vaccine is based on a new approach that uses synthetic strands of genetic code (called RNA), based on the virus’s genetic material, which has so far been trialled on 92 volunteers. Once injected into muscle, the RNA self amplifies – generating copies of itself – and instructs the body’s own cells to make copies of a spiky protein found on the outside of the virus. This should train the immune system to respond to the coronavirus so the body can easily recognise it and defend itself against COVID-19 in future.
If the trials succeed, the Imperial vaccine may be uniquely able to deliver effective doses from relatively low volumes of the vaccine and lends itself to rapid scale-up in manufacturing at a relatively low cost.
The Imperial vaccine was covered by BBC South Today. View their footage here.
