An Israeli research institute intends to begin human trials for a potential Covid-19 vaccine as early as October, it was confirmed on Thursday.
The Israel Institute of Biological Research (IIBR), which is overseen by Israel’s Defence Ministry, would start the trials in conjunction with the Health Ministry after a series of Jewish holidays ends in October, Defence Minister Benny Gantz said.
The IIBR has been working on a vaccine for six months and began animal trials in March.
After touring the institute in Ness Ziona, about 25 km (15 miles) south of Tel Aviv, Gantz said: “All the initial experiments that have been successful … give great hope”.
Shmuel Shapira, the IIBR’s director, said: “There is an excellent vaccine …We have the product in hand”.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had instructed the institute to begin working on a vaccine and antigens for the novel coronavirus at the start of the pandemic. Netanyahu, who spoke with Shapira by video conference on Thursday, said he hopes the vaccine will be available for use by the end of the first quarter of 2021.
On the same day at a press conference from Shaare Zedek Medical Centre, Netanyahu said human trials would run in three stages, with trials first on 100 people, then 1,000 and finally 30,000. The first two stages should be completed by the end of this year.
The potential vaccine is based on a well-known method of vaccination, but what is new is the use of VSV – a type of virus that does not cause disease in humans. Through genetic engineering, proteins are attached to the vesicular stomatitis virus to form coronavirus “crowns” that are identified by the body as Covid-19. As a result, the body produces antibodies against it.
