150 volunteers wanted to help test potential coronavirus vaccine at St George’s Hospital in Tooting

Residents could be pioneers in developing a vaccine to prevent coronavirus.

St George’s Hospital and University in Tooting is looking to recruit 150 volunteers in the next two weeks to test the safety of the treatment.

Professor Paul Heath, who is leading the study at St George’s, with Oxford University, said: “We want to demonstrate whether this vaccine is safe and is effective at preventing coronavirus.

“If the vaccine passes those initial tests, it could then proceed to the next phase, where large numbers of doses are made, and the vaccine can be rolled out on a wider scale.

“The whole development process is being accelerated at the moment. We hope that if this vaccine is found to work, it could be implemented as quickly as possible.”

The trial will be run by researchers at St George’s Vaccine Institute at St George’s, University of London, with the support of St George’s Hospital.

Volunteers will receive compensation for their time and travel.

If you participate in the study until the end, you will receive a total payment of £235.

Volunteers must be adults aged between 18 and 55 and in generally good health.

They must not have had the Covid-19 infection and must not be currently pregnant or breastfeeding.