A coronavina vaccine developed by the Statens Serum Institut is ready to be tested on humans. This is stated by the Ministry of Health and the Elderly in a press release.
If everything goes according to plan, it will happen in 2021 at Hvidovre Hospital. This is what Anders Fomsgaard, chief virologist, professor and chief physician at the Statens Serum Institut, who leads the vaccine work, says.
– It is a lengthy process where there are protocols to be approved and a lot of quality assurances. There is a whole small army of vaccine developers at the serum institute who have embarked on this.
– So it will only take place in the spring or early summer, and it will take place at Hvidovre Hospital, he says.
In the first phase, the vaccine will be tested on healthy volunteers.
The vaccine called Covaxix has shown promising results in the initial stages of development and testing. Here it has been tested on mice and monkeys, among other things.
– We have tested the vaccine on different animals and there have been no side effects. We have been able to evoke the immunity that we have hoped for, which is partly protective antibodies and partly the cell immunity that prevents you from getting sick, says Anders Fomsgaard.
The Folketing’s finance committee has therefore allocated DKK 18.8 million so that the first clinical tests in humans can be carried out.
– Subsequently, the vaccine must be tested on a large scale if it has the potential to be approved, says Minister of Health and the Elderly Magnus Heunicke (S) in the press release.
– But no matter what the outcome of the tests is, the development of a vaccine at the Serum Institute helps to increase our knowledge about covid-19 and better equip us for the development of future virus vaccines against future pandemics, it reads.
Anders Fomsgaard also believes that a Danish contribution to the vaccine race is important, even though other vaccine candidates are far ahead.
– All vaccines have advantages and disadvantages. It may be that ours can be used as a supplement to other vaccines.
– And it could also be a plan b if there are problems getting hold of vaccines that are safe enough and have a good enough effect, he says.
The money from the Folketing’s finance committee will, among other things, be used to produce a larger number of doses of the vaccine.
Source: The Nordic Page