the article quotes sarah gilbert, a professor at oxford saying she is 80% confident that the vaccinefirst two columns, i do not see any indication of the time. it's worth saying the bbc has done research on this story as well and the bbc‘s understanding is september would be the most optimistic and least likely timeframe just to add that in there as we look at this story. but maya goodfellow if there isa story. but maya goodfellow if there is a rack of newspapers this would be the one everyone would look at first. i hope that optimism turns out to be true. i think that we are all wanting there to be a vaccine and wanting this to be readily available very soon but by the estimates we have seen in the last few months he looks like it could be longer, i am few months he looks like it could be longer, lam not few months he looks like it could be longer, i am not going to try to predict, i longer, i am not going to try to predict, lam not longer, i am not going to try to predict, i am not a scientist so i am going to hold back on that. but i think in the meantime what i mentioned before w

professor sarah gilbert predicts this vaccine has 80% chance of working and could be ready as early as september . >> personally i have a high degree of confidence because this is technology i've used before . >> reporter: for a vaccine to h exposed to the virus, not an easy feat when the uk is under lockdown . >> human trials started in seattle last month, participants there, now due for the second round of shots . >>> in an effort to curb the spread, san francisco supervisor work to raise enough funds to buy and distribute over 30,000 masks. they will be going to more than 50 community groups and housing sites in the district . >> we know a lot of people don't have access to ppe . thanks to the leadership of the supervisor, we are able to pass out masks to the community . >> fundraising for the masks will continue, donations can be made by visiting gofundme.com/masks . with businesses close for pandemic focing have co adapt . in maryland there is soda pup , a dog bringing customers prepaid wine curbside, two bottles at a time . there are treats stash for a little tip . >>> overseas i

although there are dozens of teams working on this and there is one group in oxford under doctor sarah gilbert got the vaccine and they are going to carry out human tests, is it the case we will see short cuts being taken on the usual kind of safety measures that we normally have when a new vaccine comes on? is that acceptable? i think this is an area of great concern. yes, you might well be having vaccines going into early human studies, but the normal process is that those safety studies then have to evolve into proper testing to make sure that the vaccine really is effective and really is safe before it becomes licensed. i would strongly recommend that we do not take any short cuts because if we do take short cuts and something goes wrong, then you are in danger of undermining the whole global support base for vaccines. vaccines are probably the most important development in global health over the past century. we do not want to undermine trust and confidence in vaccines, so, please, let's not take any short cuts this time. are you happy about how the international community is developing a

professor sarah gilbert — who is leading the team — warned the bbc‘s andrew marr show nobody could beld be successful. no, nobody can be absolutely sure. that is why we have to do trials and find out. the prospects are very good but it is clearly not completely certain. to get the vaccine to a stage where it is absolutely safe, you have to do a lot of trials and it can take some time. where on that process have you got to? we have not immunised anybody yet. we are about to start clinical trials we hope towards the end of next week. we are waiting for the final safety test to be done and final approvals to be given. in the meantime, we have been given permission to start recruiting volunteers and explaining the process of the vaccine trial to them, to take blood samples, check their health status. by the time we have all the approvals for the vaccine ready, we should have a pool of volunteers to draw from and we will be able to get going quite quickly. if all of that goes well, fingers crossed, when might it be ready? it depends what you mean by ready. there are a lot of complex stages

professor sarah gilbert, who is leading the team, warned the bbc‘s andrew marr show nobody could be surey can be absolutely sure it's possible, that is why we have to do trials, we have to find out. i think the prospects are very good but it's clearly not completely certain. and to get the vaccine to a stage where it is absolutely safe you have to do a lot of trials and that can take some time. where on that process have you got to? we haven't immunised anybody yet. we are about to start clinical trials, we hope, towards the end of next week. we are waiting for the final safety test to be done on the vaccine and the final approvals to be given. but, in the meantime, we have been given permission to start recruiting volunteers and explaining the process of the vaccine trial to them, to take blood samples from them, to check their health status before we recruit them. and so by the time we have all the approvals for the vaccine ready, we should have a good pool of volunteers to draw from and we will be able to get going quite quickly. and so if all that goes well and, fingers crossed, when

professor sarah gilbert who's leading the research has used this vaccine before in research for the mersrst round involves perhaps several hundred people. it's a safety phase of the test. again, all of this, the government says it's throwing everything behind it. all of these that will be tested in the u.k., they're accelerated. this acceleration still requires a safety phase. that's what will be happening with the oxford test. they hope to be done with that phase of the test by fall. then they could scale up and get into a medical/clinical phase. the chief medical officer for england said unless you have an effective vaccine that could dampen the pandemic or stop people dying, then we could be in lockdown -- not lockdown but social distancing type measures for maybe another year or so. >> out across the world. definitely. this is happening in oxford. i know there's an imperial college one as well. how much coordination is there? >> these researchers that we know in the u.k., the government has a hand in coordination there. at a global level it's not clear how much coordination there is.

professor sarah gilbert this is vaccine has an 80% chance of working and could be ready as early as september personally i have a high degree of the vaccine because it's technology i've used beforeteor the vaccine to work volunteers need to be exposed to the virus, not an easy feat when the u.k. is under lockdown. >>> human trials for coronavirus vaccine also started in seattle last month. participants are due for their second round of shots. >>> in an effort to curb the spread of the virus, san francisco's supervisor matt rainy worked to raise enough funds to buy and distribute over 30,000 masks and going to more than 50 community groups and housing sites in rainy's distribute. >> a lot of people don't have access to ppe and thanks to the leadership of supervisor rainy, we are able to pass out masks to the community. >> fundraising for masks will continue until the goal is reached. donations can be made by visiting gofundme.com/masks.. >>> with hair salon shuttered, many people are taking the clippers into their own hands. >> the last time i got my haircut was about a month and a half ago. w

>> reporter: well, oxford university and professor sarah gilbert who's having the study have experience with this vaccine because they have used it in a trial for the mers coronavirus a few years ago. so they have knowledge of what they're handling. obviously everything is being excel ler raa accelerated to the best that they can do and the government will provide and allow for. normally it takes vaccines many, many years to go into trial and then meet clinical approval. all of that is being fast tracked. what they're setting out to do in the first phase here is involving several hundred people. that's to make sure this drug is safe in people. now having tested this to agree previously, they should have some knowledge of that. what oxford university is saying is that by fall if the initial tests go well, then they should be able to scale up the vaccine to a more wider population but, again, it will still be in the testing and research phase when they do scale it up. so it's two steps. so safety and then more of a fully fledged clinical trial. that's what's expected at the moment, rosema

sarah gilbert, this is all starting tomorrow, is that sure? it is not absolutely certain.box to be ticked, which is the committee which has oversight of the trial, the data safety monitoring board. they will have a meeting in the morning to give their final go—ahead. we are optimistic that they will give the go—ahead, but this is not a done deal until then. talk us through the practical stages. if you get the go—ahead, how many people will get the vaccine to start with? we have already had permission to start recruiting volu nteers permission to start recruiting volunteers and screening them. that means that we have put out e—mails to tell people living locally that we are conducting this trier and looking for volunteers, and they have been responding to us through oui’ have been responding to us through our website. and we had a very high response to that request for volunteers. the website is useful because it enables us to do some initial screening of volunteers. we are looking for people between the ages of 18 and 55 for the first row, and we also need people who live

. >> so when someone -- i saw this in blood work 2, sarah gilbert is professor of vaksnology, says she's0% confident the vaccine could work by november. krour sayi you're saying that's not a realistic time line given the safety issues involved? >> that's not true. if she thinks that from a safety point of view it could be ready, and she may know stuff about the safety profile of that vaccine or the vaccines in that type of design, then, you know, we could be hopeful and optimistic about that. i mean, one of the great points of optimism in covid-19 vaccines is the fact that lots of people are going after this particular target in multiple different ways. that's a good thing. that's one of the strengths that we have against this virus. >> right. >> which is the diversity of the way that we think about combatting it and beating it. >> so final thing is, so what i'm hearing from you is the time line here is getting something that you can start testing isn't the long part of this. it's the making sure the thing actually works over iterations of clinical trials, that's the really tough part. >

of trial and error and trial again that's the nature of how vaccines are developed but i told sarah gilbert and robyn shattuck 2 of our most inspiring scientists that we are going to back them to the hilt and give them every resource that they need to get the best possible chance of success as soon as possible after all the upside of being the 1st country in the world to develop a successful vaccine is so huge that i am throwing everything at it. coronavirus is a powerful enemy but i believe that the power of human ingenuity stronger every day the science gets better and we gather more information and we understand more about how to defeat the virus but in the meantime there's one thing that you can do and that is to stay at home to protect the n.h.s. and save lives thank you very much i'm now going to. serve out her as the health secretary matt hancock there giving the u.k. government daily coronavirus a press briefing and he defended the government's record on procurement of protective kit for frontline medical staff and said a vaccine would be trialed from this thursday but it seems like

just four months into assigning this virus in the world is incredible.” was talking to professor sarah gilbertone because you can have a side effect with a vaccine, often it is just a sore arm but they are testing something that is new. they will not know whether they have the vaccine for the virus itself, they will not know whether they have received that so they are doing something on behalf of the wider community and the greater good. tell us about the swa b tests the greater good. tell us about the swab tests being sent out to homes. 20,000 households, swab tests being sent out to homes. 20 , 000 households, about swab tests being sent out to homes. 20,000 households, about 5000 people in this first stage. —— 25,000 people. it is to find out at a community level in her own homes and areas to try and get better information about the spread of coronavirus. it is only when the government has that information that advisers will be able to start considering whether we can start easing some of the lockdown measures. thank you. government borrowing could jump to its highest level in peacetime his

we can speak now to professor sarah gilbert, who is leading the project.sed this vaccine technology before, we have seen it performed very well so we think it is the best thing to use it so that is where we are making the vaccine the way we are. we think it gives us the better chance. but we have to test it, we have to test it in people, to look at the vaccine's safety and look at the immune response we get and see if it protects people against the coronavirus. unfortunately we are under a lot of time pressure now because we need to be testing the virus at a time when there is still virus at a time when there is still virus circulating in the community, so we need to go as quickly as possible so we are hoping to start at the end of this week, not next week. this week you will hopefully be beginning their tests. give us an idea of the timescale and how much you are bringing it forward to try and find a vaccine for coronavirus? we started working on this on the 11th of january when the sequence was first released. in under four months we will be in clinical

and professor sarah gilbert from oxford is saying, she is 80% confident she will have a vaccine by septemberths, keep the economy open as much as you can with that, without a national lockdown. and then hope that we get a vaccine. thank you. i think we've got a brief question from laura to the professor. we had professor doyle from public health england giving us evidence a couple of weeks ago and she told the committee intensive contact tracing was not effective when there is community transmission. do you agree with that, professor? no, i don't. i agree with it in areas of hot spots, intense transmission, obviously then it becomes much more difficult and your focus on london and other hotspot areas would shift to protecting health workers. but you know, i am in yorkshire protecting health workers. but you know, lam in yorkshire right protecting health workers. but you know, i am in yorkshire right now, they have less than ten cases identified, confirmed cases in a population of three or 400,000. around the time we stopped all out community testing or contact tracing, i would community test

so this is a process that sarah gilbert was explaining it is usually donein gilbert was explaining itking at a vaccine candidate and at that point we will know whether we have a vaccine candidate that is safe and effective but that's reallyjust vaccine candidate that is safe and effective but that's really just the starting point. if we think about the scale of this problem, we really need doses, billions and billions of doses, and in order to do that we need to really focus on how we can manufacture those numbers of doses at scale. the key point, as you say, you clearly outlined the procedures that have to take place, but the line you use there is efficacy, and that in layman terms is whether it works or not. that clearly... whether it protects or not. how is that part determined? so, what we need to remember is that this time last year no one in the world was aware of covid—19. it wasn't... it was four or five months old now and we are learning every day about what natural infection looks like, can you recover from it, natural infection looks like, can you recoverfrom it, and whethe