100,000 Britons Volunteer for Vaccine Coronavirus Trials, Thousands More Needed

An initial 100,000 volunteers have already signed up to the NHS COVID-19 Vaccine Research Registry, which can be done online and will need hundreds of thousands of people to register.

Those who add themselves to the registry can be contacted by researchers organizing large-scale clinical trials of coronavirus vaccines.

Scientists say the way out of the pandemic is to find an effective vaccine, and the UK's Vaccine Taskforce - set up under the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy - is working to secure one and help fund clinical trials.

Kate Bingham, the taskforce's chairwoman, said the registry has had a "phenomenal uptake" so far.

"The purpose of the registry is to try and get as many people as possible to sign up so that as we recruit and start up these big efficacy studies, we've got people we can go to immediately.

"These trials are safe, please sign up. The quicker we get the clinical trials enrolled, vaccinated and get the results, the quicker we can get a vaccine."

Bingham said she was "very optimistic" about the potential vaccines and added that early results from three of the six being looked at by the taskforce were encouraging.

"I wouldn't bet on having a vaccine this year but I would put a bet on having something early next year that modifies the course of the disease," she said.

"What I think we'll get is a vaccine that reduces the severity of symptoms so that people will stop dying and it will turn into something like flu."

But Bingham told Sky News there is still a chance a vaccine could be found by the end of the year.

"I think we have a shot of getting a vaccine this year. There's two potential candidates - one would be the Oxford candidate and one would be the German vaccine from BioNTech," she said.

"Those are the two that if everything works, could potentially be manufactured and delivered this year. It's most likely to be early next year."

Elderly people are likely to receive a different vaccine from young people if treatments are found because their immune systems are typically weaker, Bingham said.

Those over 65 are among the groups who will be prioritized for a future vaccine, as well as ethnic minorities, people with underlying conditions and frontline health and social care workers.

Stressing the importance of these groups signing up for trials, Bingham said: "This is a call for everybody because we need to ensure that the people most at risk... are signed up to the trials because we need to be sure that their immune responses are suitable to the vaccines we're testing.

"We can't just trial these vaccines on young, fit 25-year-olds. We need to make sure we have a full demographic across the UK both regionally and agewise and underlying health spread so that we can make sure the vaccines are safe and effective for everybody."

So far, only 6% of volunteers on the registry are from BAME backgrounds.

"People are suspicious and I've certainly seen some incredibly aggressive anti-vax saying this is discriminatory or you're being targeted for all the wrong reasons," said Bingham.

"I think the main thing is to say there is no agenda here at all other than to get safe and effective vaccines to the people at risk as soon as we can and to do that we need the high priority groups to sign up for the trials."

A number of trials in the UK are expected to begin this autumn.

Business Secretary Alok Sharma said: "Scientists and researchers are working day and night to find a vaccine that meets the UK's rigorous regulatory and safety standards, but they need hundreds of thousands of people of all backgrounds and ages to sign up for studies to speed up this vital research.

"I urge everyone to play our part in the fight against coronavirus and join the 100,000 people who have already registered, so we can help save and protect millions of lives."

Researchers want more people over the age of 65 to register for trials because their immune systems tend to respond less well to vaccines.

They also want more volunteers from black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds to test whether they respond to vaccines in a slightly different way.

Signing up does not mean you have consented to have an experimental vaccine.

Researchers will contact you with more information on a specific trial if you fit the criteria.

You should be told what stage the research is, how many people have had it so far and whether there are any possible side effects, such as a fever, aching muscles or soreness where it is injected.

There are currently two vaccines being tested in the UK - in Oxford and London. But that is likely to increase in the autumn.

Some people will have concerns about the safety of the vaccines, but any major problems are likely to have been identified in early-stage trials and there is always an independent ethics committee monitoring the study to ensure researchers are following the rules.

These widescale studies are more about confirming whether the vaccine protects against the virus.

By volunteering, people are helping to bring the pandemic to an end.