The UK government on Monday issued an appeal for people from ethnic minority background, including those of Indian-origin, to register for ongoing clinical trials for a possible vaccine to combat COVID-19. More than 1,00,000 people have already volunteered for the vaccine trials in an effort to produce an effective vaccine quickly but it was seen that the number of people from certain sections of the population has been low, which led to the call-out.
Targeted recruitment programmes in Indian languages such as Gujarati, Punjabi, Bengali, and Urdu has been broadcasted to reach out to different communities.
“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,” UK Business Secretary Alok Sharma said. The cabinet minister also urged people to play their part in this fight against Coronavirus and join the 1,00,000 who have already taken up this task for protecting millions of people.
Diverse pool of volunteers will be helpful for testing the effectiveness of vaccine and carrying out clinical studies in the future as well for those who need it the most.
“Protecting those at risk is the only way to end this pandemic. That’s why we are working as quickly as possible to run clinical studies on the most promising vaccines to see whether they offer protection against COVID-19, whilst adhering to the UK’s strict safety and regulatory processes. And we need to people throughout the UK to sign up to the registry to help us achieve this,” said Kate Bingham, chair of the UK Government’s Vaccine Taskforce.
The NHS COVID-19 Vaccine Research Registry, an online service was launched last month for volunteering and a number of trials are expected to begin in the coming months. The trials will be conducted within the framework of National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and the vaccines are tested in stages to ensure that they are safe and effective.
