Clinical trial operator Panthera has begun vaccinating volunteers in a world-first trial of Valneva’s inactivated Covid-19 vaccine at its site in Rochdale. The study, which will include 4,000 participants across 24 sites in the UK, is being overseen by the global contract research organisation, Pharm-Olam. Panthera’s clinical trial sites in Rochdale, Preston and London will be vaccinating healthy volunteers over the age of 18 who have not had a Covid-19 vaccination. The double-blind phase three trial will compare Valneva’s inactivated vaccine, VLA2001, with AstraZeneca’s conditionally approved vaccine Vaxzeria. Unlike earlier Covid-19 vaccine trials, which involved a placebo dose, everyone involved...