COVID Vaccine Research Looks Promising – Impact

Over the past six months, the COVID-19 pandemic has spread around the world, forcing people around the world to transform and adapt to new ways in the world experiencing health crises.

As of October 26, more than 43 million people worldwide have been infected with COVID-19 and more than 1 million have died.

Many of the people who die are elderly and some suffer from underlying health problems such as diabetes and heart disease.

Due to the seriousness of the pandemic, many countries are spending billions of dollars on the pharmaceutical industry to produce vaccines as soon as possible.

Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, and Oxford University, AstraZeneca are just a few of the many pharmaceutical companies that are working tirelessly to make a vaccine for COVID-19.

Vaccine development usually takes years, but the COVID-19 vaccine may be ready in December of this year. However, this timeline worries people that vaccines are less effective than if they were developed over a long period of time.

People are wary of getting the COVID-19 vaccine, but some say they shouldn’t be too worried.

Dr. Danielle Basore is a Senior Chemistry Lab Associate at Mercy College and previously worked for Pfizer as part of the Vaccine Research Prescribing Group. Basore believes that the COVID-19 vaccine timeline is realistic given the circumstances.

“Vaccines usually take a long time because companies are usually working on other projects,” Basore said. “Currently, these companies have a lot of money and are only working on COVID vaccines. There is an urgent need to move science faster.”

According to Dr. Basole, pharmaceutical companies are already benefiting from extensive research on other coronaviruses such as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS).

Due to past research done by companies on both SARS and MERS, we are not starting from scratch when it comes to researching the COVID-19 vaccine. In fact, COVID-19 is closely related to SARS.

From previous studies done in both SARS and MERS, scientists and researchers know that coronaviruses have a spike-like structure on their surface called the S protein. This protein gives the virus a crown-like appearance, which is why it is called a coronavirus.

Researchers are working hard not only on vaccines that attack the S protein of COVID-19, but also on vaccines that also attack other proteins of the virus.

So far, the vaccine test seems to be very successful. Oxford University’s AstraZeneca has already begun testing live vaccines, a weakened form of the virus that invades the body to provoke an immune response.

“I believe Oxford will succeed in that trial … it looks really promising,” said Basole.

Politicians continue to say that the vaccine is ready by the end of the year or early 2021, but Basole gave her an idea of ​​a more realistic timeline for when the vaccine will be available. It was.

“My guess is that by the summer of 2021, it may be available to first responders, healthcare professionals, and high-risk people,” Basore said.

Even if the vaccine becomes publicly available, some decide to wait before being vaccinated.

“It’s better to wait to see what the side effects are,” says Marisa Skalamzo, a first-year graduate student at Mercy.

“I think proper research and testing can help, but I think the research still needs more time,” Scaramuzzo added.

Many others share Scaramuzzo’s belief that vaccine development needs more time. However, Dr. Basole believes that people should be vaccinated even after the vaccine is available.

“I understand the fear, but they are testing it and the test is promising. A vaccine that is 60% effective is better than nothing. It is not 100% effective. Just because you don’t have it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t get it, “says Basore.

The COVID-19 vaccine is the most important thing pharmaceutical companies are working on, and some believe it will put an end to the pandemic. However, this is not always the case, as not all people are vaccinated and may not be effective.

“Don’t go back to normal life. Still wear a mask and social distance,” Basore said.

As the competition for the COVID-19 vaccine intensifies, people around the world want this pandemic to end soon.