More than a dozen companies in the United States are hoping to make history as they have started testing possible vaccines for COVID-19.
The Trump administration, like other governments around the world, has determined the economy should reopen even though there’s still no cure; and it could still be many months before a vaccine is available.
Scientists at biotech company Novavax just outside of Washington DC are racing to find a vaccine for COVID-19.
They’ve worked on vaccines for other major health crises like Ebola, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome.
With the world watching, they understand there’s a tremendous amount of energy.
Chairperson of the Novavax Board Dr James Young says experts have been working tirelessly night and day.
“Everybody’s trying to speed this up as fast as possible. This is a super urgent priority for all the governments around the world, given the devastation being caused by this virus and most people see the vaccine as the key to getting out of this.”
In the video below, Sherwin Bryce-Pease reports on the ongoing work done to find a COVID-19 vaccine:
Trials being carried out
Novavax is currently carrying out phase one clinical trials on 130 adults in Australia.
Results are expected next month. They’ll then start trials on up to 4 000 thousand people in multiple countries, potentially including South Africa.
If trials prove effective, they’d ramp up production to make at least a billion doses next year.
Dr Young says: “We don’t see this as a US problem from our perspective, even though we’re a US-based company. We see it as a global problem and we’re trying to set up the infrastructure around the world to manufacture this vaccine.”
The Trump administration however hasn’t shown that same collaborative spirit with a winner takes all attitude.
The US government didn’t participate in a vaccine conference last month where world leaders raised more than $8-billion dollars for shared efforts.
But it has funded several individual companies, raising concerns it’s effectively buying support now to ensure Americans are vaccinated first.
At the University of Pittsburgh where the Polio vaccine was first discovered, researchers are focusing on a vaccine that is delivered using a dissolvable patch, called a micro needle array.
Professor Louis Falo of the university’s Medical Centre says: “The micro needle array is simply applied to the skin topically, pressed into place very shortly and then take off and thrown away, and the antigen is already delivered.”
President Donald Trump wants a vaccine before the end of the year.
Researchers at Harvard University have however warned that social distancing will need to continue until 2022 if a vaccine is not found soon.
– Report by Nick Harper
