Coronavirus Pandemic: Researchers Race to Develop Effective Vaccine Against Covid-19

As the global cases of coronavirus infection keep increasing, there is a growing impatience for a vaccine that can prevent infection completely. Several research organizations have already begun work and are looking at starting clinical trials.

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL - MARCH 26: An army officer applies a vaccine on a driver during a drive thru influenza vaccination operation at Riocentro on March 26, 2020 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The aim is to immunize the elderly over 60 and health professionals and spare people from going to vaccination posts. This vaccination does not prevent against the coronavirus (COVID-19), but helps the most vulnerable from other diseases. (Photo by Bruna Prado/Getty Images)

New Delhi: As the global cases of coronavirus infection keep increasing and countries such as Italy, Spain, and the United States have surpassed the number of cases in China and are enforcing stricter regulations to stop the spread of the infection there is a growing impatience for a vaccine that can prevent infection completely. Several research organizations have already begun work and are looking at starting clinical trials. Vaccines help the body acquire immunity against infectious diseases by exposing it to an agent that is like the disease-causing micro-organism. This helps the body learn to recognize the pathogen as a threat and remember the response used to fight the organism in the future. Despite a small but rapidly growing movement of anti-vaxxers (people against vaccination) who feel that vaccines are responsible for disorders such as autism, vaccination still remains one of the most effective, cheap and safe methods of providing the body with lifelong immunity. For the novel coronavirus, Chinese institutes are working round the clock to develop a vaccine that is an effective treatment. After approval from authorities, the first stage of a clinical trial of the vaccine was started on March 16 in Wuhan, the city which the epicenter of the current pandemic. If the ongoing trial proves to be successful, then additional trials in other countries may be conducted. Researchers from the Jenner Institute at Oxford University are developing a vaccine based on an adenovirus vaccine vector and the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. The adenovirus is a different virus that causes common cold-like symptoms. Research is now entering stage 1 of clinical trials and the institute is already looking for healthy volunteers between ages 18-55 for testing. The Jenner Institute has also been working on a vaccine against another coronavirus, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS). US-based pharmaceutical company Moderna Therapeutics has also developed a vaccine based on RNA technology is currently conducting trials. The firm Johnson & Johnson also announced that it will start human trials by September this year. Researchers are optimistic about developing an effective vaccine as the mutation rate of novel coronavirus seems to be slower than other viruses such as HIV. This means that any vaccine developed for it will be durable. The World Health Organization (WHO) released a list of 44 vaccine candidates in clinical evaluation globally as of March 20. Of this, only two vaccine candidates are in Phase 1 of trials, while others are in pre-clinical stages. In India, Ahmedabad based Zydus Cadila Healthcare and Pune-based Serum Institute of India are working on a vaccine for COVID-19. Experts feel that the development of the vaccine will take more time than what research organizations are claiming. Considering the scale of the pandemic it is necessary that once the vaccine is in the market it is not retracted later, for example, the vaccine developed by GlaxoSmithKline Plc (earlier SmithKline Beecham) for Lyme disease had to be pulled out of markets after links to arthritis emerged. For now, the best defense against the infection remains adequate precautionary methods such as washing hands for at least 20  seconds, using a sanitizer with at least 60 percent alcohol, social distancing and following other quarantine measures.