A leading UK scientist has said that she is hopeful that a Coronavirus vaccine could be ready as soon as September of this year.
Sarah Gilbert, a professor of vaccinology at Oxford University told The Times that she is “80% confident” that a jab being worked on by her team will be ready by the autumn.
While it was widely estimated that the creation of a vaccine could take up to 18 months, Professor Gilbert said that in a best case scenario, she believes that her team could have one ready by September.
"I think there's a high chance that it will work based on other things that we have done with this type of vaccine. It’s not just a hunch and as every week goes by we have more data to look at. I would go for 80 percent, that's my personal view,” Professor Gilbert is quoted as saying.
The professor has been laboriously working seven days per week with her research team to get the vaccine through the development stages. Yet, the Oxford academic also expressed a note of caution, saying that “nobody can promise it’s going to work.”
The Oxford team is one of many scientific research efforts around the world racing against time to find a way to immunise people against the highly contagious and potentially COVID-19 virus.
However, The Times has reported that Professor Gilbert’s team is ready to begin human trials in two weeks time, making it one of the fastest pace efforts in the world. The UK government has already suggested that, if the results start to look promising, they are willing to initiate a big funding drive to accelerate the research effort.
