A vaccine against the coronavirus has been developed, and testing in people was due to begin in the United States on Monday.

According to news agency reports, the vaccine will be given to 45 healthy volunteers at the Kaiser Permanente research centre in Seattle.

The vaccine contains a genetic code of the Covid-19 virus, copied from the real virus. The copy is not dangerous and cannot cause infection in the human body.

Experts say it will take many more months to find out whether this vaccine, or several similar ones now being researched, will work at all. Scientists around the world are trying to speed up their research.

The vaccine, named mRNA-1273, is not made from the virus that causes Covid-19. Instead, scientists copied part of that virus's genetic code and inserted it into the vaccine. It is hoped that the vaccine will fight infection by rousing the human body's own immune system.

The volunteers will be given the vaccine twice in the arm, 28 days apart, and different volunteers will receive different doses.

If the trial goes well and safely, it may take up to 18 months for the vaccine to become available for public use.

Source: BBC Bangla. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.