UK Scientists Consider Kenya for Their Covid-19 Vaccine Trials

UK scientists have identified Kenya as their alternative place to conduct trials for their Covid-19 vaccine, according to reports.

The researchers drawn from Oxford University said they will turn to Kenya if they fail to get early quick results for the trials in the UK.

They picked Kenya as they feel the Covid-19 pandemic may very well be on the rise in the country.

Questions have been raised over the decision to consider Kenya as a location for the vaccine trial due to its lower number of Covid-19 cases.

As of Thursday, April 23rd, there were 336 confirmed cases of the virus in Kenya, 14 deaths, and 95 recoveries.

 “Can their ‘partners’ decide for us without public participation in this debate?” Narc-Kenya Party leader Martha Karua posed.

Robert J, an immunologist, said: “This is a failure of good scientific communication, & also a case of one partner is sprinting (in action and communicating) while the other one is still walking. The Oxford collaborating partner(s) in Kenya needs to get this conversation going in public. cc @KEMRI_Wellcome.”

The first human trial in Europe of a Covid-19 vaccine began on Thursday in the UK, where two volunteers—both scientists—were injected.

The two are the first of the more than 800 adults, aged between 18 and 55 years, who have been recruited for the study.

One of the two volunteers is 32-year-old Elisa Granato, a microbiologist based at the University of Oxford’s Department of Zoology.

“I am a scientist so of course, I want to support science, the scientific process whenever I can and since I don’t study viruses I felt a bit useless these days so I felt that this is a very easy way for me to support the cause. That’s why I’m here and I’m excited,” she said.