Science
Phase 2 human test for possible coronaviral vaccine started by Chinese scientists.
The Institute of Medical Biology at Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences (IMBCAMS) announced on Sunday in efforts to further evaluate their effectiveness and safety (Reuters) that Chinese researchers began a second human trial of possible coronavirus vaccines.
Around a dozen vaccines are being tested globally at various levels, as the World Health Organization warns of an escalating coronaviral pandemic that 'the world has entered a new and dangerous period.'
However, no major, late phase 3 clinical study was carried out by either of the vaccination trials, which was a required move before regulatory approval had been given for sale.
IMBCAM Saturday, following a phase-1 trial that has recruits around 200 participants since May, the institute started a phase-2 human test for its experimental shot which is one of six potential vaccines that Chinese scientists are testing on humans. On Sunday it said on its social media site.
Phase 2 trials are designed to assess the dosage of the shot and continue to test whether a vaccine is effective for healthy people.
IMBCAMS has indicated that it plans to use a coronavirus vaccine manufacturing plant this year in order to prepare for potential supplies of Chinese vaccines.
By 2020, Gao Fu, Director at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said that all classes of people with special needs would use the experimental vaccines under urgent conditions.
In 2019, 8.81 million persons worldwidely were infected with the coronavirus first detected in China and 460,000 were killed in it.
Source: Reuters; Roxanne Liu and Se Young Lee reporting in Beijing;
