While the number of cases of coronavirus continues to increase with 577 people infected and 9 dead, the Institut Pasteur is working to find a vaccine for it. A first generation of prototypes based on that of measles could see the light of day before the end of 2020.
- The Institut Pasteur is preparing a vaccine against the coronavirus
- This vaccine could be derived from the one that protects against measles
- Pasteur’s goal is to complete in fall 2020
The coronavirus epidemic continues to spread on French territory. Now, the number of people infected with Covid-19 is 577 and 9 people have died, according to the latest announcements from Jérôme Salomon, Director General of Health, Thursday evening. A continued spread that should trigger phase 3 of the epidemic “between a few days and one or two weeks”, according to a doctor received at the Elysée. Worldwide, the total number of infected people has exceeded 100,000.
First tests on mice
At the Institut Pasteur, researchers are working on setting up a vaccine. The objective is to achieve a first vaccine in the fall. To do this, the researchers base themselves on that of measles as shown by the cameras ofCorrespondent. Covid-19 indeed belongs to the same family of viruses. In the vaccine innovation laboratory, researchers have been working on the development of a vaccine for a month. They will assemble the genome of the measles vaccine with part of that of the coronavirus to obtain a vaccine derivative that all countries in the world know how to produce. A first version could be available, at best, in September 2020.
The Institute’s teams are inspired by a process used in 2003 for SARS in order to develop this new vaccine. In a refrigerated cabinet, the “vaccine candidates” wait to pass the selection. “You have to make sure that they push at the right speed, that they have the right sequence, that there is no error in it, to select the right one, the one that will go to the end of the development industrialexplains Frédéric Tangy. So there we are. We should start animal experiments these days.” The first vaccine prototypes will be tested on mice, to verify their effectiveness.
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