British scientists are on the verge of developing a vaccine for the Covid-19 strain of coronavirus following successful tests on mice and monkeys.
The team of scientists led by Mucosal infection and Immunity head Dr Robin Shattock have said that the vaccine could be ready for human trials by June. Senior researcher Dr Paul McKay of Imperial College London told the Express: "I've got results from a month after I injected (the mice) and the vaccine works really, really well."
Dr McKay and his team of scientists who are working in Paris to determine the vaccine's effectiveness in monkeys said they have applied for further funding from the Medical Research Council in order to conduct human clinical trials. "If we get the funding for the human clinical; trials, we will put it into people by June," he said.
Meanwhile, a coronavirus patient feared to be on the brink of death has recovered. thanks to an experimental drug. the critically ill woman, who contracted the virus in the US, was a test subject for the drug 'remdesivir' which had only been used on monkeys. Medics had feared that she would die of the flu-like illness, but the day after being given the drug via an intravenous drip, her condition improved '; consistently', as reported by the American Journal ScienceInsider. the woman is believed to be the first case community transmission in the US as she had not travelled to an infected country nor did she have any contact with a confirmed COVID-19 patient.
