In a race for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cure, hopes are high for a vaccine developed by Oxford University scientists which could be ready as soon as September and the remdesivir of America, a viable vaccine by January.
The ChAdOx1 nCoV-19
In a report by France 24, the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19, currently being developed by Oxford University, considered as the most promising potential vaccine against the deadly coronavirus.
The core of the vaccine is is an adenovirus and belong to the family of viruses that have a mild effect on humans, and it is present in chimpanzees (exists in humans as well). It is then combined with parts of another virus to make a vaccine.
SEE ALSO: COVID-19 contains HIV sequence and was created in a laboratory, says Nobel Prize winner
The British vaccine was used to test six rhesus macaque, the closest thing we have to humans. The monkeys received a dose of the vaccine a month ago. Good news was announced last week that the animals did not contract COVID-19 after being exposed to it. Other monkeys who had not been vaccinated were infected and fell ill.
The report also said that Oxford vaccine entered human trial stage with 1,110 healthy volunteers on April 24.
If the trial produces positive results, millions of doses of ChAdOx1 nCov-19 could be available as early as September, Oxford researchers told the New York Times, months ahead of other known efforts.
It could be a 'record speed' as the vaccine is technically not new. Oxford scientists have already used ChAdOx1 in the past to test vaccines against Ebola and the 2012 Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) virus, a coronavirus related to COVID-19.
The remdesivir a breakthrough drug
US top infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci announced that the Trump administration is ramping up efforts to produce a vaccine against coronavirus.
The initiative called “Operation Warp Speed” aims to reduce the usual development time for a vaccine and to have 300 million doses ready by January, Bloomberg reported.
"We want to go quickly, but we want to make sure it's safe and it's effective," Fauci said. "I think that is doable if things fall in the right place.
“But just remember, go back in time,” he said. “I was saying in January and February that it would be a year to 18 months. So January is a year. So it isn’t that much from what I had originally said.”
Fauci said data from one clinical trial “shows that remdesivir has a clear-cut, significant, positive effect in diminishing the time to recovery”.
Remdesivir is an experimental antiviral produced by the US pharmaceutical company Gilead, initially as a potential treatment for the Ebola virus.
Remdesivir was revived due to COVID-19 pandemic as it has promising results in preventing other viral respiratory illnesses like MERS and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), which are also caused by coronaviruses.
The world caught off-guard by the COVID-19 crisis forced all scenarios of uncertainties in economy and health. As of May 2, the World Health Organization (WHO) recorded 3.2 million cases globally, this includes nearly 230,000 deaths. USA is leading in the total cases with 1.3 million and more than 72,000 fatalities.
— The Summit Express
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| Scientists raise hope for COVID-19 vaccine this year | Screenshot from NBC News video |
The ChAdOx1 nCoV-19
In a report by France 24, the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19, currently being developed by Oxford University, considered as the most promising potential vaccine against the deadly coronavirus.
The core of the vaccine is is an adenovirus and belong to the family of viruses that have a mild effect on humans, and it is present in chimpanzees (exists in humans as well). It is then combined with parts of another virus to make a vaccine.
SEE ALSO: COVID-19 contains HIV sequence and was created in a laboratory, says Nobel Prize winner
The British vaccine was used to test six rhesus macaque, the closest thing we have to humans. The monkeys received a dose of the vaccine a month ago. Good news was announced last week that the animals did not contract COVID-19 after being exposed to it. Other monkeys who had not been vaccinated were infected and fell ill.
The report also said that Oxford vaccine entered human trial stage with 1,110 healthy volunteers on April 24.
If the trial produces positive results, millions of doses of ChAdOx1 nCov-19 could be available as early as September, Oxford researchers told the New York Times, months ahead of other known efforts.
It could be a 'record speed' as the vaccine is technically not new. Oxford scientists have already used ChAdOx1 in the past to test vaccines against Ebola and the 2012 Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) virus, a coronavirus related to COVID-19.
The remdesivir a breakthrough drug
US top infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci announced that the Trump administration is ramping up efforts to produce a vaccine against coronavirus.
The initiative called “Operation Warp Speed” aims to reduce the usual development time for a vaccine and to have 300 million doses ready by January, Bloomberg reported.
"We want to go quickly, but we want to make sure it's safe and it's effective," Fauci said. "I think that is doable if things fall in the right place.
“But just remember, go back in time,” he said. “I was saying in January and February that it would be a year to 18 months. So January is a year. So it isn’t that much from what I had originally said.”
Fauci said data from one clinical trial “shows that remdesivir has a clear-cut, significant, positive effect in diminishing the time to recovery”.
Remdesivir is an experimental antiviral produced by the US pharmaceutical company Gilead, initially as a potential treatment for the Ebola virus.
Remdesivir was revived due to COVID-19 pandemic as it has promising results in preventing other viral respiratory illnesses like MERS and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), which are also caused by coronaviruses.
The world caught off-guard by the COVID-19 crisis forced all scenarios of uncertainties in economy and health. As of May 2, the World Health Organization (WHO) recorded 3.2 million cases globally, this includes nearly 230,000 deaths. USA is leading in the total cases with 1.3 million and more than 72,000 fatalities.
— The Summit Express
