First volunteer receives corona vaccine

Lisa Weidner studied German and sociology and completed several journalistic internships. She is a volunteer at Hubert Burda Media Verlag and writes for the "Meine Familie und Ich" magazine and on nutrition and health topics.

More about the experts All content is checked by medical journalists.

The Tübingen study on the corona vaccine should show its first results in just two months. There is no shortage of subjects.

The study with the corona vaccine from the company Curevac entered the hot phase on Friday: A volunteer received the first vaccination at the Tübingen University Hospital. Then the young test person remains under observation for 24 hours - she is monitored by both the monitor and the doctors, said study leader Peter Kremsner of the German press agency. "Nothing serious has ever happened in vaccination studies, but we want to be on the safe side."

Large rush of volunteer testers

Professor Kremsner expects the first results in two months. "It will be pretty quick," said the director of the Institute for Tropical Medicine, where the active ingredient is being tested. Hundreds of volunteers have already signed up based on the media reports. As soon as a circular with an appeal is written, there will probably be thousands of applications. It's a home game for the Tübingen University Hospital.

What's next?

The study initially requires 100 healthy participants between the ages of 18 and 60 years. "If everything goes well with the first test person, the next three will come on Monday, then four to eight on Wednesday and from then on more and more," explained Kremsner. They will all be observed afterwards, in the further course the vaccination dose will be increased or even a second vaccination will be given if the first one is well tolerated.

The Tübingen company Curevac is working on so-called mRNA vaccines. mRNA is a kind of messenger molecule that contains the building instructions for the production of proteins. For their vaccine, the Curevac researchers provided the mRNA with the instructions for a protein of the Sars-CoV-2 coronavirus. After vaccination, human cells produce this protein, which the body recognizes as foreign. It forms antibodies and other defense cells against it.

How far the research into a suitable vaccine against the coronavirus and which immunizations other companies are working on can be read in the article "Corona vaccine: The big race". (lw / dpa)

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