German is poised to have its first set of clinical trials for Covid-19 vaccine, after securing government approval, according to the country’s Federal Institute for Vaccines.
The trial will see 200 healthy participants between the age of 18 and 55 receive several variants of the vaccine, developed by German biotech company BioNTech, as scientists examine its efficacy in providing immunity against the virus.
BioNTech said it was developing the vaccine candidate, named BNT162, together with pharmaceutical giant Pfizer.
Germany joins other developed countries in the race to develop a vaccine that will help contain the spread of coronavirus, which has so far killed more than 177,000 people and infected 2.5 million, according to figures from Johns Hopkins University.
Germany follows the UK in approving a human trial after health secretary Matt Hancock announced scientists at Oxford University will begin testing a vaccine on people this Thursday.
In China, early-stage human tests for two experimental vaccines were approved earlier this month, according to state media Xinhua.
The Chinese vaccine candidates are being developed by a Beijing-based unit of Nasdaq-listed Sinovac Biotech and by the Wuhan Institute of Biological Products, an affiliate of state-owned China National Pharmaceutical Group.
And in the US, drug developer Moderna has begun human tests for their vaccine with the US National Institutes of Health, Independent UK reports.
