Everybody around who waited for the twin year 2020 to knock at the doors are now proclaiming the 2020 year to be one of the worst years of the nightmare in their life. The world was not prepared for a virus outbreak as humungous as this one. What started off in a small town in China has steadily begun to spread all over the world in every nook and corner. The Covid-19 is the disease that is caused by the latest addition to the family of coronavirus. It has infected millions all over the world and has taken the lives of thousands across the globe. The greatest and the poorest of the countries all over the world have been observing lockdown in order to curb the spread of the coronavirus. Months have passed by and now people are eagerly waiting as to when we will step on the ending phase of this pandemic.
All health experts say that without access to a proper vaccine, the only way to control the novel coronavirus is through following the basic protocols of social distancing, wearing masks, testing, and then tracing down the ones that are infected and the ones that are exposed to the virus and have the potential of developing Covid-19. Okay, all of these measures surely have proven to be effective only when they are followed in a strict manner. And now, after almost half a year gone by, people are finding it to be very difficult to adhere to these practices diligently.
And to make matters worse, the sinking economies of the world have forced many countries to ease lockdown and slowly open up their businesses and trades—this has always ended up in spiking the number of new coronavirus cases. We hear news about a vaccine for Covid-19 being underway, but how soon is it going to reach us? We’ve already waited for months and how many months more do we need to wait? Here’s a quick run-through on the developments regarding the Covid-19 vaccine, read on.
Important Things To Note About Covid-19 Vaccine
- In the US, a first of its kind case has been documented regarding the Covid-19 where someone has contracted the coronavirus twice. The nature of this discovery brings forth many more questions regarding the spread and infection of Covid-19 which will certainly hamper the development of a Covid-19 vaccine.
- Two frontrunners exist in this race of finding a vaccine for the Covid-19—the Modern and Pfizer. However, the main hurdle that these two faces are that their drugs demand a sub-zero temperature environment for storage.
- The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that even if a vaccine gets the FDA approval, it will not be available immediately and that only a limited supply will be let out initially.
- There are certain guidelines that have come into place for the distribution of the Covid-19 vaccine. According to these guidelines, the essential workers, the healthcare workers, and certain vulnerable populations will be administered with the vaccine first.
- Several clinical trials are being conducted in many countries where one can volunteer. The one that is currently recruiting this in the US is at the CoronaVirusPreventionNetwork organization online.
- The US government has reserved nearly $10 billion to the various vaccine manufacturers under them so that they can secure at least 800 million doses. This is part of their Operation Warp Speed Vaccine program.
- In a similar manner, even the UK has secured over 340 million doses whereas the EU has made deals for almost 1 billion doses.
Why Is There A Delay In Finding The Covid-19 Vaccine?
In general, vaccines take almost 10 to 15 years for being developed and approved which happens in four phases where the last phase is the one that includes human trials. Vaccines are just like other biopharma products, they need to undergo clinical development. And then they need to undergo and pass clinical trials as well for their efficacy and safety concerns. The third phase of clinical trials for the vaccines require thousands of participants as well. Nevertheless, during this pandemic, the vaccine development is bright considering the greatest of all health emergencies that the world is facing because of Covid-19. Here’s a look at some of the promising frontrunners in this race of finding a coronavirus vaccine.
- Moderna From The US: The scuffle within the US government had delayed the human testing of this vaccine, however, the CEO of Moderna says that the vaccine will probably be ready for distribution in early 2021 if it gets tested as effective and safe.
- AstraZeneca (Oxford University) From The UK: They are currently testing out this vaccine in 100,000 human volunteers spread across three countries and are hopeful for a fall 2020 release if approved.
The Distribution And Capacity Hurdles
With almost everybody being exposed to the threat of contracting the Covid-19 disease, upscaling the manufacturing capacity is one hurdle, and then ensuring that it is distributed rightly to everybody is another hurdle of its own. Not to forget the need for the countless number of needles and syringes which will be required to administer the vaccine. The need for the vaccine is now and while the health experts and scientific experts are giving it their best in their laboratories to ensure that their discovered vaccines hit the market soon, the overwhelming need for the vaccine is quite alarming. Let’s not forget the transportation part of the vaccine as well—that too is a hurdle of its own.
So, will there be a vaccine for everyone? We probably wouldn’t know until next year. We might require different vaccines manufactured from different companies and then distributed by different labs and pharmacies so that each one has access to the vaccine. Only then we will be able to put an end to the pandemic that we are in right now. Until then, following all the safety measures and improving our immunity is the only way we can stay away from Covid-19.