A Chinese experimental coronavirus vaccine being developed by the Institute of Medical Biology under the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences was shown to be safe in an early stage clinical trial, researchers said. In a Phase 1 trial of 191 healthy participants aged between 18 and 59, vaccination with the group’s experimental shot showed no severe adverse reactions, its researchers said on Tuesday in a paper here posted on medRxiv preprint server ahead of peer review.
The most common adverse reactions reported by the trial participants were mild pain, slight fatigue and redness, itching and swelling at the injection site. The candidate also induced immune response.“All the data obtained in this trial support the safety and immunogenicity of this inactivated vaccine and are encouraging with regard to further studies of its efficacy in the future,” the paper said.
European Countries Face Shortages of COVID-19 Drug Remdesivir
In July, the 27 European Union countries and Britain, with a combined population of 500 million, secured doses to treat about 30,000 patients. The United States signed a deal for more than 500,000 courses of treatment, accounting for most of Gilead’s output through September. “Remdesivir has run out,” Dutch Health Ministry spokesman Martijn Janssen told Reuters, adding however that new deliveries were expected shortly.
The antiviral drug has been shown to shorten hospital recovery time in severe cases of COVID-19. Remdesivir and the steroid dexamethasone are the only drugs authorised in Europe to treat COVID-19. Both have been given to U.S. President Donald Trump, who is also receiving an experimental antibody cocktail. Hospitalisations across Europe have been rapidly increasing, although in most countries still far below levels of the spring. “Due to the increased hospital admissions, the demand for remdesivir is increasing rapidly,” the Dutch spokesman said.