On 23rd April, Oxford University initiated the first human trial in Europe of a coronavirus vaccine and Kolkata’s Chandra Datta is the only Indian-origin to be part of the team that has manufactured the first batch of vaccines.
Currently a Quality Assurance Manager, Trainee Qualified Professional in Clinical Bio-manufacturing Facility, Chandra first moved to the UK in 2009 to pursue her post-graduation in Biotechnology from the University of Leeds. She started working in her current role at Jenner Institute, University of Oxford in April last year and has recently been part of the team hunting for the coronavirus vaccine. In her role, Dutta has been responsible for quality checks, proper labelling and dispatch of the vaccine.
Operated by the Jenner Institute of Oxford Vaccine Group, the hunt for a coronavirus vaccine had begun as early as 20th January with the project being led by Prof Sarah Gilbert, Prof Andrew Pollard, Dr Teresa Lambe, Dr Sandy Douglas, Associate Prof Catherine Green and Prof Adrian Hill.
The University of Oxford had started screening healthy volunteers (aged 18-55) in March for their trial and vaccinated the first participants on 23 April. The trial aims to assess whether the new vaccine, ChAdOx1 nCoV-19, can protect healthy people from COVID-19. It will also provide valuable information on safety aspects of the vaccine and its ability to generate good immune responses against the virus. Asst Prof Catherine Greene, who is the head for Clinical Bio-manufacturing Facility (CBF), thanking her team tweeted,
“We made it! The first batch of ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine that is being used in the clinical trials here in Oxford was manufactured by my marvellous team at the CBF. We take no credit for the conception or the design, but we will take credit for having gone from DNA construct to GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice) certified product into trial in 65 days. A phenomenal effort from the whole team who deserve a name call.”
Around 1000 people will take part in this trial. Half of these volunteers will be injected with the vaccine while the other half (the control group) will receive a meningitis vaccine. The vaccine, jointly designed by Vaccitech and University of Oxford, comprises Vaccitech’s ChAdOx1 adenovirus vaccine vector platform encoding the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2, the COVID-19 virus.
Several countries are racing to find a vaccine for coronavirus. According to the BBC, half a dozen Indian firms are developing vaccines against the virus that causes Covid-19 including Serum Institute of India, the world's largest vaccine maker by number of doses produced and sold globally.
In the UK, the first trials are meant to be conducted by two universities – the University of Oxford and Imperial College London – as separate research projects. If the trials are successful, the first vaccines could come into circulation by autumn this year. The Imperial College clinical trial is meant to start in June 2020.
