How close is a Covid-19 vaccine after the Moderna and Pfizer breakthroughs - and who will get it first?
Since coronavirus emerged in January almost 200 vaccine candidates have been put into development, with at least 15 in human trials.
Pharma giant's Pfizer and BioTech, the first to announce a major breakthrough, have now revealed their vaccine has an efficacy rate of 95 per cent, after releasing further data from trials.
The drugmaker said efficacy of the vaccine was consistent across age and ethnicity demographics, and that there were no major side effects, a sign that the immunization could be employed broadly around the world.
The new results show similar effectiveness to early data from US biotech Moderna, who revealed on November 16 that its candidate vaccine is 94.5 per cent effective.
The UK government has ordered 40 million doses of the Pfizer and BioNTech jab, and 5 million doses of the Moderna vaccine.
With Pfizer and BioTech planning to apply within days for emergency use approval with EU and US regulators, the vaccine could reach the UK by early December.
However, the UK is not set to receive the first batch of the Moderna jab until Spring 2021, as Matt Hancock emphasised there is no ‘stockpile’ of these vaccines, as they are yet to be manufactured.
Professor Van-Tam shared that the vaccine was "the biggest and most important thing the NHS has done for quite a while." He then went on to suggest the vaccination will "dramatically change what the late Spring and Summer will look like. That's how big the prize is, therefore it's really important that everyone works really hard on this."
According to leaked plans, the Government is set to train thousands of volunteers to administer the jabs.
What we know about the Moderna vaccine
The interim analysis of the Moderna vaccine, currently known as mRNA-1273, comes after 95 trial participants in a trial of 30,000 contracted Covid-19, including just five who were given the coronavirus jab.
If the vaccine passes its final tests, then it will need to be given in two doses, just like the Pfizer vaccine, which showed similar results last week.
This week, it emerged that country music star, Dolly Parton, helped fund research into the new vaccine.
Ms Parton donated £800,000 in April to Vanderbilt University, where the vaccine was developed, after her friend, Dr Naji Abumrad of the Vanderbilt Institute for Infection, Immunology and Inflammation, told her they were making "exciting advancements."
The singer told the BBC: "I felt so proud to have been part of that little seed money that hopefully will grow into something great and help to heal this world – Lord knows we need it!”
Combining the Pfizer vaccine and the Astrazeneca agreements, the UK has now ordered 100 million doses. In his metaphorical discussion of the Moderna vaccine, Professor Van-Tam described it as the "second penalty that has gone into the back of the net".
But the UK may have to wait until spring until the vaccine becomes available here, as the US is reported to be first in line for the new jab.
Peter Openshaw, Professor of Experimental Medicine at Imperial College London, welcomed the results as “tremendously exciting”.
Professor Openshaw shared: “This latest press release is based on a study of 30,000 US adults, including many high-risk or elderly persons. This gives us confidence that the results are relevant in the people who are most at risk of Covid-19 and in most need of the vaccines.”
The press release also detailed only minimal side effects - 3 per cent of people reported that the first dose caused some pain around the injection site, while 10 per cent of people noted fatigue, muscle aches and flu-like symptoms.
“These effects are what we would expect with a vaccine that is working and inducing a good immune response,” said Prof Openshaw.
There is added excitement around the vaccine because, unlike the Pfizer candidate, it does not need to be “deep frozen” at -70C, making distribution easier. Instead the vaccine remains stable for up to six months when kept at -20C, the temperature of a conventional freezer, and can be stored for up to 30 days in a standard fridge.
But the vaccine may prove more costly because it needs 100 micrograms per dose - more than three times more than Pfizer’s.
While the data was published via a press release, it includes significant details that remain unclear around the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine - which uses the same mRNA technology to target the coronavirus spike protein and an immune response.
During the Moderna trial 11 people became severely ill with Covid-19, all of whom were in the placebo group. Of the 95 cases reported, 15 were detected in individuals older than 65 and 20 were from black and ethnic minority backgrounds.
All we know about the Pfizer vaccine
US multinational Pfizer and German biotech firm BioNTech revealed on November 18 that their coronavirus vaccine was 95 per cent effective in preventing Covid-19 and has passed its safety checks, after new data was released from the late-stage trial.
The drugmaker said efficacy of the vaccine developed with German partner BioNTech SE was consistent across age and ethnicity demographics, and that there were no major side effects, a sign that the immunization could be employed broadly around the world.
Efficacy in adults over 65 years, who are at particular risk from the virus, was over 94 per cent.
Pfizer said on Wednesday there had been 170 cases of the disease in its trial of more 43,000 volunteers, of which 162 were observed in the placebo arm and 8 were in the vaccine group.
Ten people developed severe COVID-19, one of whom received the vaccine.
It also said the vaccine was well-tolerated and that side effects were mostly mild to moderate and cleared up quickly.
The only severe adverse event that affected more than 2% of those vaccinated was fatigue, which affected 3.7% of recipients after the second dose. Older adults tended to report fewer and milder solicited adverse events following vaccination.
The results come after the pharma companies revealed on November 9 that their coronavirus vaccine was more than 90 per cent effective in preventing Covid-19 among those without evidence of prior infection, and that 30 million doses of the vaccine could be heading to the UK before Christmas.
The study enrolled 43,538 participants, with 42 per cent having diverse backgrounds, and no serious safety concerns have been observed, the companies report.
Pfizer and BioNTech also said they plan to submit the data to other regulatory agencies around the world as well as the United States. They also plan to submit data from the study to a peer-reviewed scientific journal.
Pfizer reiterated it expects to make as many as 50 million vaccine doses this year, enough to protect 25 million people, and then produce up to 1.3 billion doses in 2021.
Ugur Sahin, chief executive of BioNTech, told BBC's The Andrew Marr Show on November 15: "We did not see any other serious side effects which would result in pausing or halting of the study" .
He said the "key side effects" seen so far were a mild to moderate pain in the injection site for a few days, while some of the participants had a mild to moderate fever for a similar period.
"We have now safety data for a proportion of the subjects for more than two months, and we are continuing to collect data for more than two years, to not only see the short and mid-term side effect profile but also the long-term side effect profile.
"But so far the safety profile appears to be absolutely benign."
Everything we know about the Sputnik vaccine
The announcement on the Sputnik V vaccine came days after pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and biotech firm BioNTech released their interim results. In fact, Moscow claimed its own Sputnik-V candidate had reached 92 per cent efficacy, less than 48 hours after Pfizer's announcement.
The phase three trials evaluated efficacy among more than 16,000 volunteers who received the vaccine or placebo 21 days after the first injection.
Statistical analysis of 20 confirmed cases of coronavirus, the cases split between vaccinated individuals and those who received the placebo, indicates the vaccine had an efficacy rate of 92 per cent after the second dose.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) is in discussions with the Russian institute that developed the Sputnik V candidate vaccine against Covid-19 over its potential application for emergency use listing, the U.N. agency said on November 12.
In a statement to Reuters, the WHO said: "We look forward to receiving the data for their Sputnik V candidate vaccine. If a product submitted for assessment is found to meet the criteria for listing, WHO will publish the results widely."
By granting the vaccine emergency use listing, the WHO would effectively be recommending its use to member states. Russia's Sputnik V vaccine is 92% effective at protecting people from Covid-19 according to interim trial results, the country's sovereign wealth fund said on November 11.
The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), which has been backing the vaccine, said there were no unexpected adverse events during the trials, and monitoring of the participants is continuing.
The results have not yet been peer-reviewed.
Ian Jones, professor of virology at the University of Reading, said: "Although based on fewer cases than the recent Pfizer data, the vaccine looks as efficient and, like the Pfizer data, confirms and extends the earlier Phase Two results. The Sputnik data is yet more good news for Covid-19 vaccine development."
But Eleanor Riley, professor of immunology and infectious disease at the University of Edinburgh, said: "I worry that these data have been rushed out on the back of the Pfizer/BioNtech announcement earlier in the week."The Sputnik data are based on only 20 cases of Covid-19 in the trial participants, compared to more than 90 cases in the earlier trial.
She added, "This is not a competition."
In terms of distribution the Russian announcement is better news than Pfizer, because the vaccine is a traditional viral vector – like the Oxford jab – and much more stable at normal refrigeration temperatures. It is very similar to the Oxford vaccine, based on a common cold virus, and offers hope that the British version will also work.
The Telegraph has revealed that Britain is likely to reject a vaccine from Russia, amid serious concerns over its trial processes.
Mr Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said the Russian president was considering whether to be vaccinated.
What's the latest on Oxford's AstraZeneca vaccine?
Oxford's vaccine trial was halted on September 8 after a participant in the UK had an adverse reaction.
The vaccine, developed with AstraZeneca, cleared phases one and two human trials and progressed to the third phase where it was being tested on a larger number of participants.
But the adverse reaction experienced by the participant in the vaccine trial may not have been caused by the experimental vaccine itself, it has since been claimed. One participant died during trials in Brazil, but trials have continued as the death is understood not to be linked to the trial.
Oxford announced on September 12 that clinical trials of its coronavirus vaccine will resume in the UK. And on October 23, it was announced that human trials of the Oxford and AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine have also resumed in the US.
Before that, testing had been positive. The full results of the Oxford trials, published on July 20, showed that initial trials on 1,077 British adults found that the vaccine induced strong antibody and T-cell responses, which may improve further after a booster jab.
The discovery is promising because separate studies have suggested that antibodies may fade away within months while T-cells can stay in circulation for years.
The Oxford jab works like a traditional vaccine. The spike protein of the coronavirus, which helps it attach to human cells, is inserted into a common cold virus. The immune system detects the invaders and produces T-cells and antibodies to fight them, preparing the body for an attack by the real virus.
This method is cheaper than that of the Pfizer vaccine. The latter sends a piece of genetic code into human cells instructing them to make the spike protein themselves. No vaccine has ever been successfully created in this way before. Novelty is expensive, and so is the fact that, relying on a live piece of genetic code, the Pfizer vaccine must be kept at minus 70 degrees Celsius.
Reports suggest that the price of distributing a jab from Germany or the US is likely to be at least ten times more than a British vaccine, while the logistics of providing a jab which needs to survive in dry ice is staggering.
On November 9, optimism around AstraZeneca's vaccine trial dipped, with shares nudging down as Pfizer’s findings appeared to put the US firm in the lead in a global race to release an effective vaccine.
The British-made vaccine is “definitely in the race”, says Sir John Bell, part of the UK’s vaccine taskforce: “Don’t worry about us. We’re fine – we’ll be fine. If it works, that is. I’ve never said that it worked.”
But, Sir John adds: “I’d be quite optimistic now that it will.”
In fact, far from being disheartened by the news about Pfizer’s progress, many vaccine experts are now more convinced than ever that AstraZeneca and Oxford are headed for success. That’s because both vaccine candidates have distinct similarities.
Like Pfizer’s, AstraZeneca’s vaccine targets the so-called “spike protein”, the biological tool that Covid uses to invade our cells. The fact that this mechanism has been proven to be effective offers hope AstraZeneca’s will also work.
The question now is when AstraZeneca and Oxford will be able to prove that themselves – and how far behind Pfizer they may be.
Bell says that it is unlikely to be too long. Results are expected within weeks – a sentiment echoed by AstraZeneca which has said findings for the trial, costing more than $1bn, should come before the end of the year.
This will not just be the efficacy data that Pfizer has released, but also how safe the vaccine is, with details of the potential risks and side-effects.
“Pfizer have got to go over all their safety data, and that will take another 10 days or two weeks,” Bell says.
The Oxford trial, on the other hand, is expected to announce both sets of findings simultaneously. When this will be remains far from certain.
The Astra vaccine has cheered investors, with as the companies shares are up by almost 40pc since March. Shares in the Pfizer also soared in pre-market trading after announcing its success in final-stage clinical trials.
The latest data in the Oxford University trials shows that their vaccine produces a "strong" immune response among the elderly. Analysis of the Phase II stage of the trial process reportedly found similar responses across all age groups, in findings that have been hailed as a "milestone" in the fight against the pandemic.
As well as several Phase 3 trials taking place on vaccine candidates around the world, the UK is starting some "human challenge trials", where volunteers are exposed to the virus as part of testing the vaccines.
The University has been forced to move some of its vaccine testing to South America and South Africa, although it is expecting results back soon.
Read more: Oxford v Pfizer: how costs and logistics could still see Oxford's vaccine win out
What do we know about the Janssen vaccine?
The UK launched a major trial of the Janssen vaccine on Monday 16 November, the third such trial in the country. The trial has started to recruit 6,000 people in the UK. Half of the volunteers are to be given two doses of the vaccine two months apart.
Janssen, the Belgian company that designed the vaccine, has already completed a large-scale trial with volunteers receiving one dose. This trial will test to see if two doses gives a stronger and longer lasting immunity.
The results could take six to nine months to become available.
The value of finding a reliable vaccine cannot be overestimated. While companies including AstraZeneca have agreed to a “no-profit” pledge up until at least the middle of next year, the prize on offer remains significant.
Pharma companies could be raking in more than $10bn (£7.6bn) in annual revenues for Covid vaccines in the coming years, experts suggest.
What about the Imperial College vaccine?
Researchers at Imperial have developed a candidate which, when injected, will deliver the genetic instructions to muscle cells to make the SARS-CoV-2 spike surface protein. This should provoke an immune response and create immunity to the virus.
The Imperial human challenge trial is being run by hVivo, a spin-off company from Queen Mary University of London. Already roughly 2,000 people have signed up to take part in challenge studies in Britain through the group 1Day Sooner.
Those testing the vaccine will be given the jab and will then wait a month for antibodies to build. The volunteers will then be exposed to the virus.
Rather than giving people a weakened form of the illness, the Imperial vaccine instead uses synthetic strands of genetic code based on the virus' genetic material.
Another vaccine candidate is being developed by the University of Cambridge which hopes to start clinical trials in the autumn after it received £1.9 million in funding from the British government.
The Cambridge candidate, DIOS-CoVax2, is DNA based. Computer-generated antigen structures are encoded by synthetic genes, which can then re-programme the body’s immune system to produce antibodies against coronavirus.
What do we know about China's Sinovac vaccine?
China has moved up a gear in the pivotal area of vaccine diplomacy, with a string of positive announcements from Beijing.
Sinovac, the Chinese pharmaceutical firm, says its vaccine is nearly ready and will be rolled-out across the world early next year.
On November 17, the company announced that the vaccine was effective at provoking an immune response to the virus.
However, some are concerned about the quality of the vaccines and that they are being used to gain political leverage.
On November 9, Sinovac was forced to suspend trials of its vaccine in Brazil after a participant died.
Beijing was so confident in its homegrown inoculations that authorities had been administering vaccines for more than a month before clinical studies conclude, authorities revealed at the beginning of September.
The Chinese government has provided sparse details on which vaccines are being given to people, and how many have been vaccinated, leading to concerns participation may be forced and not voluntary.
The Sinovac vaccine, which involves two shots administered two to four weeks apart, has so far been given to 3,000 of the company's employees in an effort to demonstrate safety. 30,000 worldwide have so far received the vaccine during clinical trials.
Beijing has been particularly supportive of the Sinovac project, building a new production facility capable of producing 300 million doses per year. Sinovac CEO Yin Weidong has said he hopes the vaccine will be used by people all over the world, including those in "the US and EU".
However, it remains to be seen if the vaccine will pass strict western safety protocols.
Experts are starting to wonder whether China's strategy of focusing on "old school" vaccine technologies may eventually prove to be more prudent.
China National Biotec Group (CNBG), a state-run vaccine company, said in mid-September that early data from its phase three trials showed that its two leading immunisations were effective in preventing volunteers contracting Covid-19 – the first time a claim of efficacy has been made.
A Chinese vaccine candidate, called BBIBP-CorV, based on inactivated coronavirus is safe and elicits an antibody response, preliminary results have shown.
The research, published in the journal Lancet Infectious Disease, was not designed to assess efficacy of the vaccine, however, so it is not possible to say whether the antibody responses induced by the vaccine are sufficient to protect from coronavirus infection.
Who will get the vaccine first?
The Government's Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation have set out guidance on which groups will be prioritised if a successful vaccine materialised.
The guidance published on September 25 is provisional on preliminary information on the vaccines in development, and provisional timelines for vaccine availability, and is subject to change.
The committee strongly agree that a simple age-based programme will likely result in faster delivery and better uptake in those at the highest risk.
As the following graphic shows, less than half the number of people classed 'highly vulnerable' in the UK could receive a vaccine by the end of year.
Whether health and social care workers should be prioritised above, alongside, or below, persons at highest risk from Covid-19 would depend on the characteristics of the vaccines when they become available and the epidemiology of disease at the time of delivery.
The priority groups are set out to be the following:
older adults’ resident in a care home and care home workers
all those 80 years of age and over and health and social care workers
all those 75 years of age and over
all those 70 years of age and over
all those 65 years of age and over
high-risk adults under 65 years of age
moderate-risk adults under 65 years of age
all those 60 years of age and over
all those 55 years of age and over
all those 50 years of age and over
rest of the population (priority to be determined)
The prioritisation could change substantially if the first available vaccines were not considered suitable for, or effective in, older adults. For now, it appears there will potentially only be enough of the vaccines to treat over 50s, as shown in the graphic below.
At a press briefing on November 16, Matt Hancock and Professor were unable to expand on who would take priority for a vaccination. The Health Secretary said there is an official body which advises the Government on the order of the right clinical importance.
He said it is this body who have “set out the interim prioritisation, based on what is known already of the two leading vaccines, but they will update that when they see the final data”. Hancock did, however, share that they will take those who are ‘extremely vulnerable’ into account, and he will ensure people they get a vaccine when appropriate to their risk level.
Following the announcement of the Pfizer vaccine, a list of priority countries became clearer:
The German-based company had reportedly completed advance deals with the European Union for around 200m doses, while the United States will receive around 100m doses, with the potential for more.
There are suggestions that the UK will be one of the first countries to receive the vaccine, as it expected to receive 40m doses, with 10m of these arriving in the country before 2021.
Among the countries at the top of the list to receive the Pfizer vaccine is Italy, who will receive 13.6 per cent of the first 200m doses from the EU’s allocation.
Pressure may mount on political leaders to vaccinate their citizens first, but an inequitable distribution of vaccines globally could prolong the pandemic for everyone. Read The Telegraph's full analysis here.
Will the vaccines be ready for Christmas?
Those who are categorised as the highest priority may receive the Pfizer vaccine before Christmas, according to a deputy chief medical officer in Downing Street.
At the press conference on November 9, Prof Van-Tam declared he was “hopeful we could see some vaccine by Christmas”. However, he encouraged the public not to “get too over-excited about where we are” before the Prime Minister also emphasised this breakthrough was still in its ‘very early stages’.
The NHS has been instructed to prepare for mass Covid-19 vaccination of the public from December 1, with plans to dispense 1,000 jabs a week at 1,500 GP practices and drive-through centres.
On November 16, Matt Hancock announced the Covid vaccination programme would be “ready to go” from as early as December 1.
From a press conference in Downing Street, he shared: “That’s the first possible date it could be ready, that isn’t my central expectation at all. But we do need to be ready from then because that is theoretically the earliest it could possibly be.
“The bulk of the rollout is likely to be in the New Year, if a vaccine, one of the two early vaccines, comes through. And they are the Pfizer vaccine and the AstraZeneca vaccine.
“We must be ready, and I want to thank in advance GPs in advance for all the work that I know they’re doing now.”
Medical and nursing students, and retired medics, are being drafted in to help. Chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners, Prof Martin Marshall, suggested dentists should join them to allow other treatments to continue.
While the news of the Moderna vaccine is exciting, the Health Secretary, Matt Hancock, has suggested that the first batch will not arrive in the UK until spring 2021.
Researchers say this means that protection is achieved 28 days after the initiation of the vaccination, which consists of two doses.
However, they caution that as the study continues the final vaccine efficacy percentage may vary.
Dr Albert Bourla, Pfizer chairman and chief executive, said: "The first set of results from our Phase 3 Covid-19 vaccine trial provides the initial evidence of our vaccine's ability to prevent Covid-19."
He added: "We will continue to collect further data as the trial continues to enrol for a final analysis planned when a total of 164 confirmed Covid-19 cases have accrued.
Vaccines being developed by Oxford University and in Germany could be ready this year, experts have said, but there are also candidates being tested in the US, Russia and China. There were also some signs that China was pulling ahead in the race.
How long will these vaccines last?
Despite the upbeat news, a major new study found that immunity to coronavirus may only last a matter of a months - which could hinder the rollout of a successful vaccine.
The clinical trials in the UK are using two doses around two months apart in order to see if it gives longer lasting immunity.
A study by Imperial College London, which involved 365,000 people, showed that antibodies in the population fell by more than a quarter in just three months.
Scientists said the findings suggested a "rapid" decline in immunity – which could mean that even if a successful vaccine is found, it might have to be administered twice a year.
It comes after the head of the UK's vaccine taskforce has warned that any jab is likely to be only 50 per cent effective. Kate Bingham said any vaccine capable of immunising against the coronavirus will likely only be as effective as the flu vaccine.
"The vaccines we have for flu are about 50 per cent effective, and they are annual shots, based on the strain that emerges each summer which we then get vaccinated for the winter,” Ms Bingham said. "So, I think it would be fair to say, we shouldn't assume it's going to be for the moment, better than a flu vaccine."
Ugur Sahin, chief executive of BioNTech, told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show on November 15, that vaccines could be combined if someone no longer has an immune response.
When asked if the coronavirus jab could be used in combination with other vaccines, such as the one being developed by AstraZeneca, he said: "At the beginning, it does not make sense to combine vaccines, as every vaccine has been clinically evaluated as a prime boost.
"So that means most vaccines are based on a first injection, and after three weeks, or after four weeks, a second injection. And I wouldn't mix that, because this has not been evaluated for safety."
He added: "But if after one year, for example, if someone who has received an AstraZeneca vaccine, who does not any more have an immune response, then it could be combined with the BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine, or vice versa."
Mr Sahin said it was not known how long immunity lasts after a second dose of the vaccine, adding: "The antibody response might decline over time, and we expect it will decline over time, but what is not known, how fast it will decline?
"We are collecting this information and we will see it and if the antibody response, for example, after one year appeared to be too low, we can do a booster immunisation, which should not be too complicated."
Mr Sahin added that more data needed to be generated to find out if immunisation against coronavirus was required each year.
How do vaccines work, how long do they take to make, and why?
A vaccine stimulates your body's immune system to produce antibodies and fight off a disease. It does this by introducing into your body the germs that cause disease. Your immune system then fights off these germs, developing the antibodies that then make you immune. Vaccines, therefore, can be potent weapons in preventing disease.
However, developing a vaccine is complicated. While researchers are confident that a vaccine could be ready by the summer of 2021, that would be the fastest humans have ever gone from seeing a brand new pathogen to developing a vaccine against it.
Currently, vaccines are tested at population level, so scientists look to see whether a smaller percentage of people are infected than would be expected in the vaccine arm of the trial compared to a control group.
However worldwide lockdowns meant that the rate of infection was lower in the summer and early autumn months, and scientists have struggled to get enough data to know whether their vaccines are working.
Here's the journey a vaccine takes, from initial development to approval:
Before clinical testing: At this stage, scientists test the vaccine on cells and then give the virus to animals. If the vaccine produces an immune response – ie if antibodies are produced – it can move to the next stage
Phase 1 testing: In these tests, also known as safety trials, the vaccine is tested on a small number of people. It is in this stage that scientists work out the dosage and if the jab produces an immune response in humans
Phase 2: Now the vaccine is tested on a lot more people, with hundreds of participants split into groups, often by age. Sometimes, to speed up the process, phases 1 and 2 can be combined.
Phase 3: In the third phase of testing, the vaccine is delivered to thousands of people. The vaccine runs alongside a placebo. This phase is extremely important because it simulates mass adoption of the vaccine; the larger sample size of participants means that the trial can find out rare potential side effects of the vaccine that might not be present in smaller groups. The Oxford and Imperial vaccines are currently at this stage.
Approval: If the vaccine passes through these stages, it can be approved by national and international regulators. Then it can be distributed. Scientists would continue to monitor people who receive the vaccine, in case it is not safe. However, researchers have expressed concern that approval could be rushed without adequate scrutiny – as with China and Russia's vaccines – or that emergency authorisation of a coronavirus vaccine could be dangerous. Approval is also subject to political pressures
Having to satisfy the safety criteria in each of these stages is why developing a vaccine is such a long and complicated process.
What is a 'challenge' trial?
Volunteers could soon be deliberately infected with coronavirus in trials to speed up a vaccine and discover if people are protected if they have already had the disease, in what is known as a "challenge trial".
In a groundbreaking trial, scheduled to begin in January at the Royal Free Hospital in London, patients will be inoculated with a vaccine developed by Imperial College, and then exposed to coronavirus.
"Challenge trials" are controversial, but can give a quick answer about whether a vaccine is effective and several Nobel laureates have called for them to take place.
Oxford University is also intending to use a similar "challenge trial" to test whether people have protective immunity from the disease if they have been previously infected.
Both groups of researchers are currently hunting for a "salvage therapy" that would be given as a last resort if the vaccine did not work before they can begin the trials and will need approval. The trials will be funded by the Government.
What other deals has Britain signed and will Britons get first access to a vaccine?
On September 14, the Government announced that it had secured the supply of 60 million doses of a Covid-19 vaccine candidate being developed in France.
Valneva SE, a specialist vaccine company, announced a "major partnership" with the UK worth around £433 million. The doses will be provided in the second half of 2021.
Combining the Pfizer vaccine and the Astrazeneca agreements, the UK has now ordered 100 million doses of coronavirus vaccinations.
There is an option for the Government to access a further 130 million doses between 2022 and 2025, the company said.
Britain had already signed deals for more than 340 million doses of a vaccine. The total stockpile means that — if the vaccines all work — there will be enough for every person in Britain to have five doses. Most of the vaccines require two to be effective.
Britain is preparing to revise laws to allow the emergency use of any effective coronavirus vaccine before it is fully licensed — but only if it meets required safety standards.
The UK has also joined Covax, the UN scheme pooling funds from wealthier countries and non-profits to develop two billion doses of an effective, approved and equally distributed vaccine by the end of the 2021.
The UK had previously announced £48 million to finance Covax vaccines for lower-income countries. The World Health Organisation said last month that 172 countries and multiple candidate vaccines were engaged in talks about joining the initiative.
Dexamethasone and other treatments being trialled
While the world waits for a vaccine, there have also been major advances in treatments for Covid-19.
The world's first coronavirus treatment that significantly reduces the risk of death is already being given to NHS patients following groundbreaking trials by British scientists.
In a breakthrough described by Boris Johnson as a "remarkable achievement", the common steroid dexamethasone was shown to radically improve the chances of survival for the most ill patients.
On June 16, the Prime Minister hailed the result as the "biggest breakthrough yet" in the treatment of coronavirus, both in Britain and globally.
The Government has been stockpiling dexamethasone since March in case the trials were successful. There are already supplies for 200,000 patients, and enough to cope with any second wave of the virus.
The drug – commonly used to treat arthritis, severe allergies and asthma – costs just £5 for a full course of treatment and is expected to have a major impact on the pandemic.
Alongside vaccine development, doctors are trialling existing drugs for viruses such as Ebola, malaria and HIV. Early results seem promising but, until full clinical trials have been concluded, doctors cannot be certain that the drugs are effective.
Australian biotech company Ena Respiratory has said that a nasal spray it is developing to improve the human immune system to fight the common cold and flu significantly reduced the growth of coronavirus in a recent study on animals.
A study on ferrets showed the product, dubbed INNA-051, which could be used complementary to vaccines, lowered the levels of the virus that causes Covid-19 by up to 96 per cent, the company said. The study was led by British government agency Public Health England.
Ena Respiratory said it would be ready to test INNA-051 in human trials in less than four months, subject to successful toxicity studies and regulatory approval.
After he tested positive for coronavirus, Donald Trump was treated with an 'antibody cocktail' by Regeneron. The cocktail is an experimental therapy that uses two or more lab-engineered antibodies that is believed to reduce levels of the coronavirus and improve a patient's symptoms.
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