Two separate programs are up and running in the United Kingdom; two separate teams racing to find an effective vaccine against the coronavirus. However, the UK government has refused to promise that Brits will be first in line to receive a vaccine even if one of the British teams develops it, The Telegraph reports.
Both the University of Oxford and Imperial College London are at a relatively advanced stage of vaccine development, having begun human trials. Nonetheless, senior medical officials have stated their pessimism that a vaccine will be found within the year.
Other teams in the US and China have also begun human trials.
The UK government has committed to at least £42.5 million ($52.5m) for the two vaccine projects, but even when repeatedly pressed by journalists, a government spokesman refused to guarantee that British subjects would have priority treatment. Various public health officials have noted that vaccine development in this case is most likely to succeed as an international collaborative effort, and have suggested that it would be unethical to let "nationalism" play a role in deciding who is first in line.