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COVID-19 Vaccine

On Wednesday, the World Health Organization officially declared a global pandemic as the total number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 surpassed 120,000 and the death toll more than 4,500. All over the world scientists are working around the clock to find a vaccine that could protect people from getting this virus. As schools close and whole countries go on lock-down, this is a crucial step in controlling this strand of coronavirus.

In China, where the virus originated, there have been many recent developments in finding a usable vaccine. According to the South China Morning Post, "Eight institutes in the country are working on five approaches to inoculations in an effort to combat COVID-19." These labs have announced that they will have a vaccine ready for entering clinical research and potential use during emergency situations. Creating a vaccine that is approved for use on the general public isn't quite that fast or easy. Usually required clinical trials and detailed research take between a year and a year and a half after the development of the vaccine. However, laws in different parts of the world could potentially make the vaccine accessible much sooner.

In Israel, the Institute for Biological Research (IBR) has been working on gaining a much deeper understanding of the virus. Recently there has been a significant breakthrough in reference to, "understanding the biological mechanism and qualities of the virus including better diagnostic capability, production of antibodies for those who already have the virus and development of a vaccine." Ever since the genetic sequencing of the virus was released, IBR has been looking at how the virus presents itself in animals. They have been making progress, and there have been rumors of IBR announcing a new vaccine.

In the US, there have been dozens of companies all trying to reach the goal of getting the most effective vaccine the fastest. When following typical testing processes set by the FDA, the vaccine has to be first tested in animals like mice before it can move on to human trials. Even though this step is very highly recommended by experts across science, some companies are skipping this step to save time. Others are still including this step but are doing it at the same time as future steps to save time and still check the boxes. These decisions are hard to make for public health safety, but weighing the pros and cons these scientists have decided that speed is more important that going through steps that aren't required. According to Mark Feinburg, who has worked on the Ebola and AIDS vaccine, " The traditional vaccine timeline is 15 to 20 years. That would not be acceptable here. When you hear predictions about it taking at best or a year and a half to have a vaccine available ... there's no way to come close to those timelines unless we take new approaches." In response to whether it's morally acceptable to skip the animal testing stage Feinburg says, "I personally think that's not only appropriate; it's the only option we have." This shows how much scientists value getting a vaccine ready as fast as possible.

These are just a couple of the many, many scientists that are working tirelessly all over the world to create a vaccine. Some have said that there will be significant human clinical trials starting as soon as April. Putting so much time and money into a vaccine is a bit of a gamble at this point since COVID-19 is so new and could easily mutate, but like the respected scientist, Mark Feinburg said, "it's the only option we have."