The United Kingdom has conducted its first human trial for the Coronavirus vaccine in Europe.
The trial is being conducted at a health facility in Oxford.
Two volunteers already injected are the first set of more than 800 people recruited for the study.
While half of the volunteers will receive the COVID-19 vaccine, the other half will receive a control vaccine which protects against meningitis.
However, the volunteers will not know which vaccine they are getting; only doctors will.
“I’m a scientist, so I wanted to try to support the scientific process wherever I can”, Elisa Granato, one of the first volunteers told BBC.
The vaccine was developed in under three months by a team at Oxford University.
Team leader, Sarah Gilbert, Professor of Vaccinology at the Jenner Institute, said: “I have a high degree of confidence in this vaccine of course. We have to test it and get data from humans.
“We have to demonstrate it actually works and stops people getting infected with Coronavirus before using the vaccine in the wider population.”
The UK has recorded 138,000 Coronavirus cases and more than 18,000 deaths.
Coronavirus has killed more than 190,000 people and affected 2.9 million worldwide.
