Corona virus: Six Vaccines that can Save the World from Covid-19

To prevent infection with the corona virus, scientists around the world are working hard to prepare a vaccine to prevent the epidemic.

Experts say that the speed with which scientists are doing research for the corona virus, vaccine is extraordinary.

We should not forget that the development of a vaccine takes years and sometimes even decades.

For example, the Ebola vaccine that has been approved recently took 16 years to develop.

And it is very common that the process of development of a vaccine goes through many stages. The first phase is at the laboratory, followed by testing on animals.

If during the experiment it seems that the vaccine is safe to use and immunity starts to appear, then testing is started on humans.

Six Hopes of Vaccine

The process of testing on humans is also completed in three stages. The number of people participating in the first phase is very small and they are healthy.

In the second phase, the number of people participating for the test is high and there are control groups to see how safe the vaccine is.

Control group refers to a group that is kept separate from the rest of the people participating in the test.

In the third phase of the experiment, it is determined how effective the vaccine dose will be.

The good thing at the moment is that within just three months, six of the 90 research teams working on the Covid-19 vaccine have reached what is considered to be a major goal and that is testing humans.

We will try to understand about those six vaccines whose development work is still going on.

mRNA-1273 vaccine

Moderna Therapeutics is an American biotechnology company headquartered in Massachusetts. This company is working on a new research strategy for the development of the Covid-19 vaccine.

Their aim is to prepare a vaccine that will train a person’s immunity so that they can fight against the corona virus and prevent disease.

The traditional methods adopted to do this, use living but weak and dormant viruses.

But the mRNA-1273 vaccine from Moderna Therapeutics does not use the viruses responsible for the pandemic Covid-19.

Its trial is being funded by the National Institute of Health of America. This vaccine is based on messenger RNA or messenger ribonucleic acid.

Scientists have prepared the genetic code of the corona virus in the lab, a small part of it will need to be injected into the person’s body.
Scientists are hoping that by doing this a person’s immunity will react to fight against infection.

INO-4800 Vaccine

American biotechnology company Innovio Pharmaceuticals is headquartered in Pennsylvania. Innovio is also implementing a new research strategy.

The company’s focus is on creating a vaccine in which DNA will be injected directly into the patient’s cells (cells) via a plasmid (a kind of small genetic structure).

This is expected to start producing antibodies to fight infection in the patient’s body.

Both Innovio and Moderna are resorting to new technology in which a genetic structure is being altered or improved.

Challenges in the path of vaccine

Dr. Felipe Tapia is a specialist in the Bioprocess Engineering Group of Max Planck Institute in Magdeburg, Germany.

He says, “But none of these techniques has yet discovered any drug or treatment, nor has any of their discovery been allowed to be used on humans. It makes sense that there is a lot of hope of the development of these vaccines. “

Doctor Felipe Tapia explains, “But you need to be a little careful, because these vaccines will have no other examples in history.”

“Even the scientists at Moderna Therapeutics themselves have stated that the biggest challenge they face is to take this vaccine to production and marketing status because they do not currently have a license to develop a vaccine based on messenger ribonucleic acid. “

What is Happening in China?

Currently, there are three vaccine projects in China, in which human trials are being conducted on humans. Traditional methods of production are being used in these.

AD5-nCoV Vaccine

On March 16, when Moderna Therapeutics began testing its vaccine on humans, Chinese biotech company Cansino Biologics also started trials on the same day.
The Institute of Biotechnology and the Chinese Academy of Military Medical Sciences are also working in this project along with cancer biology.

In the AD5-nCoV vaccine, a particular version of adenovirus is used as a vector. Adenoviruses are the group of viruses that cause infections in our eyes, trachea, lungs, intestines and nervous system.

Common symptoms are fever, cold, sore throat, diarrhea and pink eyes. And vector means a virus or agent that is used to deliver DNA to a cell.

Scientists speculate that this vector will activate a protein that can be helpful for immunity in fighting infection.

LV-SMENP-DC vaccine

Another vaccine is being made in Wuhan

In the third vaccine underway in China, there is a proposal to give vaccine of inactivated virus. Work is going on at the Wuhan Biological Products Institute.

For this vaccine, some such changes are made in the inactivated virus due to which they lose their ability to make someone sick.

Dr. Felipe Tapia explains, “This is the most common technique to prepare a vaccine. Most vaccines are prepared by this procedure.

There is less difficulty in taking approval. So if a vaccine is going to be ready within the next 12 to 16 months, it will be based on this technology. “

ChAdOx1 Vaccine

Development of the ChAdOx1 vaccine is underway at the Jenner Institute of Oxford University, UK. Its first clinical trial has started in Europe on 23 April.
Scientists at the Jenner Institute are also working on the same technology on which the Chinese company, Cassino Biologics, is doing research.

But Oxford’s team is using a weaker version of adenovirus taken from Chinpanzi. Some changes were made in it so that it does not develop itself among humans.

Doctor Felipe Tapia says, “Actually, those people are preparing the virus in the lab which is not harmful. But it has corona virus protein on its surface. It is expected that this protein will activate immunity in humans.”

Scientists have been using this technique even before. With its help, the vaccine of Mars Corona virus has been developed. It is being told that the clinical trials of this vaccine have yielded positive results.

Challenge of Mass Production

Even though the treatment of Covid-19 disease is being discovered on a war footing, experts say that there is no guarantee that any of these vaccines will work or not.

As Dr. Felipe Tapia explains, “It is not known right now. For example, no one can tell what the unexpected reactions of these vaccines can be or whether these vaccines can be applied to different populations or people of different ages.” What will be the effect, it will be known only with time. “

And to create an effective vaccine, getting it approved would only be the first step. After that the real challenge will be to produce this vaccine for billions of people and to deliver it to the needy people.