The question that has been on everyone’s mind during this pandemic is: is there a cure? and when will we find a vaccine? The vaccine is a very crucial point to the end of this pandemic. No matter how much we are able to control the virus and flatten the curve, there will always be the risk for another major outbreak to occur so long as there is no vaccine. For example, the flu affects millions per year and takes lives. Because the flu has multiple strains, there is a new flu vaccine administered every year. The flu vaccine does not completely eliminate the flu, but it helps establish what is known as herd immunity. Herd immunity has been discussed in my previous blogs, but it is basically whenever enough of the population is vaccinated that it “protects” those who are immunocompromised and are not able to get vaccinated from getting sick. That is what we hope to do with the Coronavirus. If an effective vaccine is found, then this may prevent the chance for outbreaks such as this one in the future.
The race for an effective Coronavirus vaccine has many participants. Research labs, Universities, and doctors all across the world are racing to find a vaccine that works. Health officials say that the timetable they are looking at for a vaccine is within 18 months. This may sound like a long time, but for a vaccine, this is a relatively quick turnaround. Keep in mind, when making a vaccine you must spend weeks upon weeks researching the virus. Then the components of the vaccine are put together. After the potential vaccine is found, then it is usually tested to animals and you must observe how they react to it. According to CNN, after animal testing, the vaccine goes into human testing. This is a three phase process. The first phase involves administering the vaccine to a very small number human subjects and monitoring their immune response. The second increases the number of tests subjects and randomly administers the vaccine. The third phase includes testing tens of thousands of people. It was announced some days ago that vaccines were already being tested on humans in Seattle. This was significant because rather than testing animals first, the animals and humans are being tested at the same time.
According to BBC News, there has also been many efforts being put towards finding a drug that treats the actual virus rather than a preventative measure such as a vaccine. There are various antiviral drugs that have been tested in the past few weeks for patients with Covid-19. Some trials have started in Europe using a drug named remdesivir. This drug was initially used as a drug against Ebola, but it is said to be effective for a variety of other viruses. Trials testing lopinavir and ritonavir have also occurred. These drugs are used to treat HIV, and unfortunately the data coming from the trials is not supporting that the use of this drug against Covid-19 would be successful. Another drug typically used against Malaria and known as Chloroquine has been tested. Some lab tests have shows that it can kill the virus, but the World Health Organization claims that there is not enough evidence of its effectiveness.
Clearly many people are working hard day and night to find solutions to end this pandemic. Although finding something quickly would be great, we must be careful not to move too quickly and potentially release something that could be dangerous or ineffective. Many people are under great pressure right now, and I am interested to see the development of the new drugs and vaccines.
Diana's Micro World 