BREAKING NEWS - IS THE COVID-19 VACCINE READY?

Finally it feels like a sigh of relief for many all around the world knowing that human trials have already begun in order to create the vaccine for the Coronavirus. 

The clinical trials for the vaccine usually have 3 phases.

1Phase 1

It involved dozens of healthy volunteers who tests the vaccine for safety, monitoring for adverse effects.

2Phase 2

This involved hundreds of people usually in a part of the world affected heavily by the disease and looks at how effective the vaccine is.

3Phase 3

Phase 3 is the same as phase 2 but it included thousands of people.

After these 3 phases the vaccine is available for masses.

CHINESE EFFORTS IN DEVELOPING THE VACCINE

According to Guardian.com,

About 35 companies and academic institutions worldwide are racing to create such a vaccine and at least four of which already have candidates to start the human trials of the vaccine.

This was only possible due to the efforts and amazing measures taken by the Chinese in order to sequence the genetic material of Sars-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19. China was the first country to share the sequence in early January, allowing research groups around the world so that they can grow the live virus and study that how does it invades the human cells and makes people sick.

(President Xi Jinping learns about progress on a vaccine at the Academy of Military Medical Sciences in Beijing, 2nd March. Photograph: Ju Peng/AP)

A Chinese government-controlled clinical trial database claims a “phase-one” test will determine whether the experimental shot is safe in humans.

While China has not started human trials of the vaccine. It is said that the vaccine will be ready by the month of April but only for the emergency situations. Citing a senior health official, the South China Morning Post said that signs of progress against the epidemic are emerging. 

Zheng Zhongwei – Direction of National Health Commission’s Science and Technology Centre says,

Our different approaches to the vaccines are steadily advancing and we are following national and laws and regulations in our developments. According to estimates we are hopeful that in April some of the vaccines that are being developed will enter clinical research or they would be of use in emergency situations.

FIRST HUMAN TRIAL IN USA STARTED

In USA the first clinical trial has started, but there’s still long way to go. In USA four patients received the jab at the Kaiser Parmenente research facility in Seattle, Washington. Reports the Associated Press news agency. The vaccine cannot cause Covid-19 but contains a harmless genetic code copied from the virus that causes the disease. Experts in the USA say that it will still take some months to know if this vaccine or others also in research will work. 

The first person to get the jab on Monday was a 43 year old mother of two from Seattle. Her name is Jennifer Haller and she says,

This is an amazing opportunity for me to do something

(Jennifer Haller was the first person to be injected with a COVID-19 vaccine candidate)

This first human trial is funded by the National Institutes of Health and we are hopeful that a vaccine will be available in the near future. The biotechnology company behind the work, Moderna Therapeutics says that that vaccine has been made using a tried and tested process.

(Pharmacist Michael Witte gives Neal Browning a shot in the first-stage safety study clinical trial of a potential vaccine for the COVID-19 coronavirus at the Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute in Seattle on March 16, 2020)

AUSTRALIA’S RESPONSE IN CREATING THE VACCINE

In Australia researchers have published the first study on the coronavirus, while a human vaccine trial has commenced.

A team of researchers at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity analyzed four blood samples taken from one of the first patients diagnosed with COVID-19. The woman aged in her 40s was admitted to a hospital in Melbourne after having travelled to Wuhan, China.

Laboratory head Professor Katherine Kedzierska says,

The immune cell populations we have seen emerging before patients recover are the same cells that we see in influenza.

The researches have said that this will be their next step. They will set out to map the immune system of larger cohorts of patients, including those with severe symptoms, to see what part of the immune response is not getting activated.

(Researcher at the Peter Doherty Institute analyzed blood samples taken from one of the first patients diagnosed with COVID-19)

(UQ researchers conduct experiments to design a coronavirus vaccine. - The University of Queensland)

Let us all pray and be hopeful that the efforts of these amazing people can pay off and the world can soon see the vaccine for the virus.

Source:

1)https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/17/when-will-a-coronavirus-vaccine-be-ready

2)https://pharmaphorum.com/news/chinese-coronavirus-vaccine-could-be-ready-for-trials-next-month/

3)https://www.bbc.com/news/health-51906604

4)https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-02-22/coronavirus-vaccine-animal-testing-days-away-uq-researchers/11991456

5)https://www1.racgp.org.au/newsgp/clinical/coronavirus-progress-breakthrough-research-first-h

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