Scientists Race to Develop a Novel Coronavirus Vaccine
Scientists race to unlock the secrets of the Novel Coronavirus- which originated in Wuhan, China, to develop the vaccine the can cure the virus.
The rampant disease in China now, the novel coronavirus, is alarming several countries across the globe. It was initially recorded in Wuhan City which is now under a lock-down.
The coronavirus got symptoms that are similar to flu – fever, breathing difficulties, and cough. With regards to its cause, it is still under investigation but there are suspicions that it came from the bat soup cooked in a market in Wuhan.
Meanwhile, researchers on three continents are trying to develop a vaccine for the new and mysterious virus that has already killed more than 130 people in China, according to the update of the New York Times. New technology and better coordination have sped up development.
Government scientists in China, the United States and Australia, as well as those working at Johnson & Johnson, Moderna Therapeutics and Inovio Pharmaceuticals are all working quickly to develop a vaccine.
On Friday, January 10, the Chinese scientists posted the information on a public database. The next morning, Dr. Graham’s team was in the lab. And within hours, they had pinpointed the letters of the genetic code that could be used to make a vaccine.
Historically, vaccines have been one of the greatest public health tools to prevent disease. But even as technology, genomics and global coordination have all improved, allowing researchers to move at top speed, vaccine development remains an expensive and risky process.
But a coronavirus vaccine is still months — and most likely years — away. It took researchers about 20 months to develop a vaccine against SARS in 2003 and six months when the Zika epidemic struck in 2015.
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