Currently, there is a global race by health ministries, medical researchers, and pharmaceutical companies to develop a vaccine, treatment and cure for the deadly coronavirus that has claimed the lives of over 7000 people worldwide, with over 17000 infections.
Last week, we reported a UK firm hVIVO being in advanced stages of developing a Coronavirus vaccine, and only awaiting paid volunteers to test it starting next month. The U.S. has beaten them to that testing stage.
Yesterday, health officials from the United States of America (USA) said that they started the first human trial of the coronavirus vaccine. The vaccine is called mRNA-1273 and was developed by US National Institutes of Health (NIH) scientists and collaborators at biotechnology company Moderna, which is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, according to the Daily Monitor.
“The open-label trial will enrol 45 healthy adult volunteers aged 18 to 55 years over approximately six weeks. The first participant received the investigational vaccine today,” the NIH said.
“Finding a safe and effective vaccine to prevent infection with SARS-CoV-2 is an urgent public health priority. This Phase 1 study, launched in record speed, is an important first step toward achieving that goal,” said Anthony Fauci, head of infectious diseases at the NIH.
The trial will study the impact of different doses delivered by intramuscular injection in the upper arm, with participants monitored for side-effects like soreness or fever.
Yesterday, Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga said that an American Professor Sarfraz K. Niazi discovered a spray that ‘instantly’ kills the coronavirus, and that it will be co-produced in Uganda and promptly go to the market next week.
Speaker’s announcement has been held in contempt by the public, calling it a grand scam and misinformation.