Researchers from the Jenner Institute at the University of Oxford, England, have just taken the lead in the global race for a vaccine against Covid-19. The one they designed should be tested on 6,000 people by the end of May.
- Oxford researchers lead in race for Covid-19 vaccine
- Their product should be tested on 6,000 people as early as May and could be available in September 2020
Developing a vaccine is one of the most effective ways to fight the Covid-19 pandemic. But when will researchers get there? On February 18, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the managing director of the World Health Organization (WHO)assured that “it could take up to 12 or 18 months”.
“We can hope that the incredible research effort undertaken around the world will make it possible to find a vaccine within 12 to 24 months that would return this virus to the rank of health questions solved by human intelligence and technology”estimated, as for him, Édouard Philippe, during his speech to the National Assembly Tuesday, April 28.
Other similar vaccines had previously been shown to be harmless to humans
One to two years: faced with the announcement of this long wait, it is difficult to remain optimistic. However, hope is born in the race for a vaccine against Covid-19, initiated by scientists around the world. In effect, according to New York Timesresearchers from the jenner institute of oxford university, in England, would be in the lead. They designed a vaccine from other, similar, which had already been the subject of previous clinical trials. The inoculations had been proven harmless to human beings.
The vaccine will be tested on 6,000 people by the end of May
Thus, the new vaccine against Covid-19 should be tested on 6,000 people by the end of May. If it proves effective, the researchers estimate that with emergency approval from regulators, the first million doses could be available as early as next September.
The results so far have been promising: the vaccine was given to six rhesus macaques, which, unlike other monkeys in the lab, were not infected after being exposed to significant amounts of the novel coronavirus. And this, even 28 days after contact.
The development of a vaccine: a long process, made up of several stages
If the vaccine against Covid-19 is taking so long to develop, it is because of its development process. “The first step in a vaccine is to identify the virus, which has been done. It is mapped and we have developed tests”Explain at Yahoo News Gérald Kierzek, emergency doctor. A first step that we owe to the Pasteur Institutewhich shared with the international scientific community the genome of the virus, which it had completely sequenced.
“The problem is that once the vaccine is found, there are phases of regulatory clinical trials with controls and other studies to then be able to put it into production, which is the last phase, knowing that production takes timespecifies the health professional to our colleagues. That is to say, even if the vaccine is found in a few weeks, it will be several months before it is developed and produced..” Anyway, there is no doubt that the progress of the Jenner Institute will be followed very closely.
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