Vaccine trials are 'a race against the virus disappearing'

Just this week, pharma company AstraZeneca announced a $1.2 billion deal with the United States government to produce 400 million vaccine doses, The Guardian reports. The vaccine in question is one being developed by the University of Oxford, which has yet to pass clinical trials.

However, with the numbers of new coronavirus cases dropping swiftly throughout the UK, the vaccine's developers are worrying that they may not be able to test the vaccine in proper conditions to determine its efficacy.

Oxford University's Professor Hill told The Telegraph that he only expected around 50 people out of 10,000 recruited to catch the virus now that rates of contagion have plummeted, adding that if less than 20 catch Covid-19, the trial may be a waste of time.

"It is a race, yes. But it's not a race against the other guys. It's a race against the virus disappearing, and against time,” Hill said.

Across the world, eight potential vaccines have reached the stage of human trials: four in China, two in the US, one in Germany, and the Oxford trial. Many of the research teams are now planning to test their vaccines in places where the virus has yet to be brought under control.