RACE TO DEVELOP A CORONAVIRUS VACCINE

Corona viruses have caused two other recent epidemics severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (Mers). An essential precursor to regulatory approval is Clinical trials which usually take place in three phases. The first is involving a few dozen healthy volunteers, tests the vaccine. The second is involving several hundred people who are usually in a part of the world affected by the disease and the third does the same in several thousand people.

COVID-19 is new and scientists understand to some extent about how it behaves and spreads. The cost of creating a vaccine to protect people against the new corona virus will run into billions of dollars and could take many months. Here are some of the reasons why.

•           COVID-19 vaccine time to get into the market is likely to be at least 18 months.

•           Potential treatments require testing and funding.

•           International organizations are helping to fund research.

Vaccine tests

Vaccines should be rigorously tested to ensure that they not only work but will not cause other dangerous side-effects. The trial methodology consists of three phases:

Ø  Testing on a small number of healthy adults

Ø  Testing on a larger number of adults in an area where the disease has spread

Ø  Testing on thousands of people in an area where the disease has spread

For the virus that causes Covid-19, the quills are the “spike protein,” a molecule that fits into receptors on cells and ushers the virus inside. Scientists predicted the structure of this antigen from the virus’s genome.

Protein-based vaccines

Instead of injecting the whole virus, it is possible to vaccinate a person with a single virus component. When a live virus enters the body, these surface proteins are easily recognized by the immune system. This approach will be easier, faster and safer because the virus protein can be produced in cell cultures.

Protein based vaccines also known as recombinant vaccines used to vaccinate against viral infections like HPV, but it can still take a year to develop a new process and several weeks to produce the vaccine even after the manufacturing process has been developed. The world needs something faster.

Gene-based vaccines

The simplest and fastest way to make a vaccine is to have a person’s own cells produce minute quantities of the viral protein that trigger an immune response. The first genetic approach uses DNA.As RNA is translated into proteins as soon as it enters the cell, this approach results in stronger immune responses than DNA vaccines. However, RNA breaks down faster than DNA.

Vaccines with DNA are produced in bacteria that grow overnight while RNA vaccines are produced in test tubes using a biochemical reaction that only takes hours. Gene based vaccines can be produced extremely quickly compared to traditional or protein-based vaccines.

Vaccines are complex whereas technology is enabling new methods of exploring vaccine candidates for trial, but there are already a few tried and tested ways to make them.