UK will begin trials of a potential coronavirus vaccine on people this week – minister

UK health minister Matt Hancock announced on Tuesday that the country will test a potential vaccine for the coronavirus on people on Thursday.

The vaccine has been developed by researchers at Oxford University, Hancock said in a daily news briefing.

“In normal times, reaching this stage would take years, and I’m very proud of the work taken so far,” Hancock said.

The minister said he would make £20 million ($24.5 million) available to the scientists at Oxford in addition to a further £22.5 million in funding for researchers at Imperial College London.

“Nothing about this process is certain,” Hancock said.

“Vaccine development is a process of trial and error and trial again. That’s the nature of how vaccines are developed.”