Coronavirus Vaccine Ready By September –UK Research Team

BY CAMI EZENWA

For the ravaging coronavirus pandemic and the threat it has posed to humanity, five months wait to get a reliable vaccine is indeed a long wait, but the possibility at all is somewhat cheering.

This is more the case because the head of the United Kingdom most advanced research team on the pandemic has said it is most probable a reliable vaccine would be found for the virus come September.

The lady is Sarah Gilbert, an Oxford University professor told mail online that she had 80 per cent confidence her team’s development would work.

The team’s enthusiasm is buoyed by the government’s strong backing to come up with a respite for an ailment that has shaken the resolve of governments most.

That government had indicated it would fund the manufacture of millions of vaccine doses that looked promising in advance, allowing immediate availability to the public

Gilbert’s latest information is a glimmer of hope given that the possible date for the coming of reliable antidote was up to 18 months.

‘I think there’s a high chance that it will work based on other things that we have done with this type of vaccine.

‘It’s not just a hunch and as every week goes by we have more data to look at. I would go for 80 percent, that’s my personal view.’

The report adds however that the vaccine would have to be tried in country with a high virus transmission rate in order to obtain results quickly.

‘We don’t want to get to later this year and discover we have a highly effective vaccine and we haven’t got any vaccine to use.

‘We don’t think we need facilities built, there are facilities that can be switched over.’

More cheering news is the discovery that the mutation rate of the virus is slower relative to several other respiratory viruses, which suggests better chances of containing it on the long run.

The experts say that coronavirus had mutated close to 10 times, leading many to fear an even deadlier strain is around the corner.

However, the scientists say the mutations do not vary much from the virus that originated in Wuhan, neither are they more severe.

“This means once a vaccine is readily available, it would provide protection against both the original virus and mutations – and for several years”, said the report

‘In the world of RNA viruses, change is the norm,’ Dr Mark Schleiss, a professor in the division of pediatric infectious diseases and immunology at the University of Minnesota Medical School, told Healthline. The flu, for example, mutates every year, which is why researchers have to develop vaccines to protect us against the most prevalent strains.