How might the coronavirus vaccine work?

Researchers hope their vsccine will make the body recognise and develop an immune response to the spike protein – recognisable in images of the virus – that will help stop Covid-19 from entering human cells and therefore prevent infection.

Human trials of the coronavirus vaccine candidate being developed at the University of Oxford in the UK are reported to be looking promising.

It is thought that early results indicate the jab could provide double protection – generating an immune response which stimulates the body to produce both antibodies and “killer T-cells”.