The first clinical trial in South Africa and on the continent for a COVID-19 vaccine was announced today, 23 June, at a virtual press conference hosted by the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (Wits).
Wits University is collaborating with the University of Oxford and the Oxford Vaccine Group on the South African trial. The South African Ox1Cov-19 Vaccine VIDA-Trial aims to find a vaccine that will prevent infection by SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. The technical name of the vaccine is ChAdOx1 nCoV-19,as it is made from a virus called ChAdOx1, which is a weakened and non-replicating version of a common cold virus (adenovirus). The vaccine has been engineered to express the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein.
The vaccine was developed at the University of Oxford’s Oxford Jenner Institute and is currently on trial in the UK, where over 4,000 participants are already enrolled into the clinical trial and enrolment of an additional 10, 000 participants is planned.
The full story is available on the University of Oxford website
Our vaccine work is progressing quickly. To ensure you have the latest information or to find out more about the trial, please check the University of Oxford's latest COVID-19 research news or visit the COVID-19 trial website.