COVID-19 vaccine trial prepared in Capetown will be rolled out in the Western Cape by next week.
A vaccination trial site associated with Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town has been given the ethical license to start screening candidates for the trial.
Over 700 volunteers have been screened already in order to be a part of the vaccine efficacy study.
The University of the Witwatersrand, in collaboration with Oxford University, last month started the trial aiming to find a vaccine that will prevent infection by the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.
The site associated with Tygerberg Hospital is also ready to start once they receive ethical approval to begin.
Wits University’s doctor and Scientific Coordinator for the African Leadership in Vaccinology Expertise Consortium, Doctor Clare Cutland, says over 400 volunteers have already been screened.
The sites that are actively enrolling participants are at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital, in Soweto, another site is in Hillbrow in Johannesburg and one in Soshanguve north of Pretoria.
“The enrollment of volunteers for the trial in South Africa has been going very well. The first vaccines were given on 24 June at three trial sites actively recruiting in the Gauteng.”
The result from a vaccine trial in the UK this week was said to be responsive and safe.
