As the COVID-19 continues to spread across the globe in an unprecedented manner, the race to find a vaccine is also intensifying. Currently, there is no vaccine available to prevent the deadly Coronavirus, which has claimed the lives of over 68,000 people worldwide. Experts believe that it will take 12-18 months to bring a vaccine to the market. At this point of time, at least 35 companies are involved in developing a vaccine.
The World Health Organization announced a large global trial, called SOLIDARITY, to rapidly discover whether any of the drugs slow disease progression or improve survival. A Hyderabad-based biotech company Bharat Biotech Ltd is also working on developing a nasal vaccine for COVID-19. It has collaborated with University of Wisconsin-Madison and American-based company FluGen to combat this pandemic. Another vaccine, being in the first phase of trials, is from the US-based biotech firm Moderna & the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases combine. Besides this, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine scientists also announced a potential vaccine to fight this contagious infection.
Moreover, China too has commenced the clinical trial of a vaccine against COVID-19, the infection caused by the novel Coronavirus that is so far responsible for over 1million infections globally. According to the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry, the phase 1 clinical trial for recombinant novel Coronavirus vaccine was registered on March 17. Apart from this, GlaxoSmithKline has partnered with Xiamen Innovax Biotech to develop an effective vaccine against the deadly novel Coronavirus.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), “A vaccine helps the body’s immune system to recognize and fight pathogens like viruses or bacteria, which then keeps us safe from the diseases they cause. Vaccines stimulate the body’s own immune system to protect the person against subsequent infection or disease. Immunization is a proven tool for controlling and eliminating life-threatening infectious diseases.”