Germany approves human vaccine trials for coronavirus

In a massive development Germany's vaccines regulator has approved live human testing of a potential vaccine against COVID-19 developed by German biotech company BioNTech. The trial - only the fourth worldwide - will be conducted on 200 healthy people aged between 18 and 55 in the first stage, said regulatory body Paul-Ehrlich-Institut (PEI). 

BioNTech said it is developing the vaccine candidate, named BNT162, together with its partner, pharma giant Pfizer. Neither PEI nor the developers specified when the trial will begin, though Biontech said in a statement that it would be “soon” and “ahead of our expectations.”The trial is only the fourth worldwide of a preventive agent targeting the coronavirus, which has so far killed more than 177,000 people and infected about 2.5 million, according to figures from Johns Hopkins University.