Is there a vaccine for coronavirus?

Is there a vaccine for coronavirus? Nowadays, this is a frequently asked question. What do we know about the vaccine? As you all know, since the coronavirus pandemic started spreading all over the world, laboratories all around the globe started to investigate a possible vaccine.

Why should we find a vaccine?

Finding a vaccine is crucial since this virus is extremely contagious. In fact, it is way more contagious than what was expected at first. In addition, if a vaccine isn’t found, COVID-19 could still be circulating among the population forever.

As many institutions have claimed, we are facing one of the most difficult scientific times in history. The reason why they believe that is that, in order to overcome this situation successfully, they have to fulfill three different goals, which are difficult to achieve. First of all, creating a vaccine in a short period of time. Obviously, it is a difficult goal because creating a vaccine has never been an easy thing to do. Therefore, they have to speed up the process, which is really difficult. The second challenge is producing this vaccine on a global scale. Lastly, vaccinating the population massively.

In order to achieve these challenges, laboratories all around the world are acting more coordinately than ever. Nevertheless, the challenge is enormous as we are facing a virus that extends itself very fast between countries and affects almost everyone in a city or region. Why does a pandemic signify a bigger challenge? Because the solution, as well as the problem, will have to be applied on an enormous scale. In this case, the implication of the pharmaceutical industry is crucial.

Is there a vaccine yet?

Russia announced the first vaccine, which was given the name of Sputnik V. The second vaccine was from China. The National Administration of Intellectual Property of China has approved the vaccine’s first patent. As official sources have stated, it could be produced in mass in a short period of time.

According to the Mundial Health Organization, nowadays there exist 167 vaccines against COVID-19, all in progress of development. Nevertheless, only 6 of these vaccines are in phase III of the clinical test.

How is a vaccine developed?

There are different phases in the elaboration of a vaccine. There exist the preclinical phase and the clinical phase, which has three different phases.

In the preclinical phase, the vaccine is tested in cellular culture. They try it on animals and the aim is to see how the vaccine acts in their organism. Afterward, in the clinical phase, the vaccine goes through three different phases. On the first one, the vaccine is tested in a reduced number of people in order to evaluate its security and the effects it has. Secondly, it is tested on a centenar of people, as it allows to see its efficacy, application, and doses. Finally, in the third phase, it is tested in thousands of people and its aim is to see the secondary effects.