ARTICLE | Vaccine
Where is the vaccine? The multi-billion dollar question Kumar Dhananjay Consulting Editor
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here are as many as seven companies trying to produce a vaccine to combat Corona (see the graphics). But the fact remains that after 1961 the world has not produced a vaccine. We are yet to find a vaccine for HIV, a disease discovered in the early 1980s and all the subsequent pandemics, be it SARS, Zica, Ebola and so on and so forth. Now Corona is testing the health community and scientists alike to find a cure for this pandemic.So where do we stand today (at the time of going to print)?
Two contending thoughts
Global population in its fight against the virus has become a ‘holy grail’. There are two thoughts within the scientific community. The first is that the threat posed by the pandemic will die down if the human population develops immunity to Covid-19. How does humanity acquire immunity? It can be acquired naturally or through vaccination. The first alternative is dangerous because that requires a huge chunk of world population to get infected. The second option is more scientific against this fast spreading virus and raises hope. We need to keep in mind that science
28 May 2020 | www.urbanupdate.in
The production lines are ready. The companies are estimating the numbers they need to produce as Corona vaccine. Billions of dollars are being pumped in, new factories are being set up, but the vaccine is nowhere in sight. A vaccine is currently the best bet to end the threat posed by the novel coronavirus, which has caused a pandemic across the world has developed over the years and it’s our best be yet. Within months of the outbreak scientists across the world have launched projects to identify and develop vaccines to halt the march of the virus. If we look at World Health Organisation (WHO) global database of research into novel coronavirus there are seven vaccine candidates being tried on humans. Let’s took a look at the efforts being made globally and in India too. Globally seven companies have entered human trials stage for corona vaccine. In India, too, six firms are in different stages of pre-clinical vaccine development. We need to keep in mind that vaccine research is a long process. It involves three stages of trials that include clinical and human trials. The number of people being injected increases and it requires an in-depth study of testing for safety, side-effects and whether it is able to induce immunity. Time could mean decades. There is also a fear that the scientists are forced to take ‘shortcuts’ to develop the vaccine but science does not endorse that.
No certainty of atime limit
These are yet initial days in the development of a vaccine. If we look at the time line of companies making predictions to achieve a vaccine it ranges from four months to a year and
half. Most of the corona vaccine being developed at the moment is trying to target the spikes located on the surface of the virus. The virus uses these spikes, which are made of protein, to latch on to human cells. Vaccines currently being developed hope to disable these spikes and render the novel coronavirus incapable of causing an infection. WHO has listed about eighty others apart from the seven mentioned in the list. These are various pharma companies which are in differentstages of clinical trials. The landscape of Covid-19 is changing very fast also because of its mutation making it tough to come up with a vaccine. The other challenge is that the development of a vaccine goes through many stages. First it involves animal trials and at least three phases of human trials. The danger that we are confronted with is that scientists are trying to take a different route. They have accelerated route that is skipping stages and are combining various phases of research. This is fraught with a risk and something full of further problems.It could well mean that a vaccine is available in some record time but experts are sceptical. And what does record time look like; experts and health practitioners are not looking at anything less than a year and half. Remember we are still struggling for HIV vaccine.
