East London clinic to inject volunteers with weak coronavirus dose in vaccine tests

An east London clinic is to inject volunteers with a weakened form of coronavirus that scientists hope could work as a vaccine.

US firm Codagenix plans to trial the “Covid lite” vaccine, which would be administered as a nose drop.

Trials could begin at the 24-bed clinic in Whitechapel by the end of the year.

The lab is run by hVivo, a company founded by academics from Queen Mary University of London.

Researchers believe that a weakened or “attenuated” Covid virus will spark an immune response, enabling the body to fight subsequent bigger infections.

The weakened virus replicates at about a thousandth of the rate of the wild strain, while “fooling” the immune system to activate.