Human trials for a COVID-19 vaccination are underway in Australia with a US biotechnology company hopeful it can release a safe vaccine later in the year.
Novavax, based in Maryland, has begun the first phase of its trial where 131 volunteers across Brisbane and Melbourne will test the safety of the vaccine as scientists keep a close eye for signs it is working.
Chief researcher Dr Gregory Glenn says he's hopeful it will be ready by the end of the year.
"We are in parallel making doses, making vaccines in anticipation that we'll be able to show it's working and be able to start deploying it by the end of this year," Dr Glenn said in a virtual press conference on Tuesday.
7 News reports around a dozen experimental vaccines are in the early stages of testing across the world.
Most of these aim to "train" the immune system to recognise the studded spike protein which covers the virus' outer surface. By priming the body to react the vaccine ensures the body will defend itself if it encounters the real virus.
However Novavax's vaccine uses genetic engineering to grow harmless copies of the coronavirus spike protein in a laboratory - the protein is then extracted and purified and packaged into virus sized nanoparticles.
