Medicosnext
As of August 19, 2020, there were 170 research teams around the world (tracked by the World Health Organization) working post haste on developing a vaccine for COVID-19. It’s a race among different nations; in fact, it has become a matter of great prestige and immensely high stakes for nations. Politics is, of course, part of the game, as are most things nowadays.
Most of the research, 138 to be precise, is at the pre-clinical trial stage. This stage is where the vaccine in question is given to animals to see if it triggers an immune response. Twenty-five candidate vaccines are undergoing small-scale safety trial. This is Phase 1. clinical testing, where a small group of people are injected with the vaccine to see whether it is safe or not, and to learn more about the provoked immune response. Fifteen candidates are in Phase 2 clinical testing, with researchers expanding safety trials by giving the vaccine to hundreds of volunteers with the aim of learning more about its safety and correct dosage. Seven vaccines are undergoing large scale Phase 3 clinical trials, where thousands of people are given the vaccine to confirm its safety, including rare side effects, as well as effectiveness, and includes a control group that is given a placebo.
Due to the fact that vaccines are also given to millions of healthy people, in addition to those who are infected, vaccine development and production must obviously follow much higher standards than for other pharmaceuticals.
Under normal circumstances, it takes many years of testing to develop a new vaccine, and many months to produce the required quantities, which involves millions of doses. However, with all the hue and cry concerning COVID-19, fuelled by politics and new-age media, and resulting in economic havoc, current circumstances are far from normal, and many companies are claiming that they will be able to produce an effective vaccine within 12-1 from the start of testing.
Ref: The Guardian, Aug 19, 2020,
