The scientific community appears to be in agreement on what must be done to defeat coronavirus. Increased testing, social/physical distancing and vaccination make up the crux of the plan, The COVID-19 Tripod.
Medical experts and frontline health care workers are the enforcers of this plan in this pandemic yet it appears one arsenal is yet to be unleashed on the virus, that is Vaccination.
Many countries have launched their bid to get an effective coronavirus vaccination around the world. It is more like a global race to develop a treatment for coronavirus. Countries like the USA, France, China, Malaysia, Germany, UK and some African countries including Nigeria, have private and public institutions already running trials for the treatment and vaccination of the coronavirus.
A coronavirus vaccine trial by University of London researchers aims to get efficacy results by September, and manufacturing is already underway. The team led by Sarah Gilbert, a professor of vaccinology, has recruited 500 volunteers from the ages of 18 to 55 for the early- and mid-stage randomized controlled trial. It will be extended to older adults and then to a final stage trial of 5,000 people. Gilbert said that the timing is ambitious but achievable.
Pharmaceutical companies are also at the forefront of developing a vaccine.
Sanofi and GSK announced that they have entered an agreement to jointly create a COVID-19 vaccine by the end of next year. The companies plan to start clinical trials in the second half of 2020 and, if successful, make it available to the public by the second half of 2021. The effort by Sanofi and GSK is expected to produce a potential vaccine to prevent COVID-19, which has sickened more than 2.1 million people worldwide and has killed at least 146,201 as of Friday morning, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
In other words, there would most likely not be any coronavirus vaccine ready until about one year from now.
Should the World Wait for A Vaccine?
The world cannot wait for a coronavirus vaccine that would not be ready until about a year from now. People and governments around the world have to rely more on social parameters and already existing healthcare facilities to survive this pandemic.
Countries that will survive this pandemic would be those who are able to effectively and innovatively use testing capacity and social distancing techniques (and compliance) in the best ways possible while we wait for the potent vaccines.
Apparently, a loss of one leg of the COVID-19 Tripod will make efforts around the world appear ineffective and not far-reaching. This enforces the role of a central coordinating body like the World Health Organization, to ensure and monitor standards around the world on coronavirus vaccine development.
