CLINICAL trials for a "promising" Covid-19 vaccine are due to start in Newcastle today.
The vaccine is being developed by Valneva in Livington, West Lothian.
Clinical trials are getting underway in Newcastle, Birmingham, Bristol and Southampton.
The UK government has pre-ordered 60 million vaccine doses.
The trial involves 150 volunteers at National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) testing sites.
These early phase one and two trials will show whether the vaccine produces a safe and effective immune response against Covid-19.
And if it is successful, larger clinical trials will be planned for next April.
The UK government has already pre-ordered Valneva’s vaccine candidate and should studies prove it to be safe and effective, 60 million doses could be made available to the UK by the end of 2021.
Valneva’s vaccine is the fifth to enter clinical trials in the UK, alongside Oxford/AstraZeneca, Imperial College London, Novavax and Janssen, whose studies are currently ongoing.
Business Secretary Alok Sharma, said: “As we take the monumental steps in rolling out the first Covid-19 vaccine, we must remember that we need to have a range of vaccines available to protect the British public now and long into the future.
“Today we have more welcome news that life-saving clinical trials will begin across the country to test the safety and effectiveness of Valneva’s vaccine, which is being clinically developed right here in the UK.
"Having visited Valneva’s state-of-the art facility in the Summer, I have seen first-hand the incredible work our scientists and researchers are doing to develop this vaccine.
“Thanks to significant investment from the UK government, we are doing all we can to ensure our country has the capabilities in place to produce hundreds of millions of doses of this vaccine for the UK, and for those around the world.”
Valneva chief executive Thomas Lingelbach said: “Our teams have been working extremely hard to develop our differentiated vaccine candidate and I would like to thank them, as well as the UK government, for their dedication and support.
"While conducting our first clinical trials, we are already ramping-up our manufacturing capacities and commencing production at full-scale so that we can make the vaccine widely available across the world assuming the vaccine is safe and effective.”
Interim Chair of the government’s Vaccines Taskforce Clive Dix said: “Huge progress has been made in developing a successful Covid-19 vaccine. While this is very positive, we must remember there is no one size fits all approach, and we need to continue developing different types of vaccine so we can vaccinate the UK population.
“We believe that Valneva’s vaccine is promising and has the potential to tackle coronavirus now and into the future, which is why we have pre-ordered 60 million doses and are investing to help them expand their UK manufacturing facility.
"This will not only support them in manufacturing hundreds of millions of vaccines for the whole world but boost the UK’s resilience against possible future heath crises.”
Some of the volunteers taking part in Valneva’s clinical trials came through from the NHS Vaccines Registry, allowing the UK public to support the national effort to speed up vaccine research. Over 364,000 people have already signed up to the Registry, with more needed.
Additional information about volunteering for clinical studies can be found by visiting the NHS site to join the NHS Vaccine Research Registry.
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