Coronavirus, here's when the vaccine will arrive. A poker game with China and the US leading the way.

But Russia, Israel, Europe, and Italy also play their part. There are technical delays that cannot be eliminated. But there's also work already done in the past for SARS.

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coronavirus vaccine

When we have the coronavirus vaccineWe can try to construct a reasonable answer to this fundamental question, without being enchanted by the pipers of early announcements, by looking at the facts and relying on the well-founded and documented news coming from the scientific community around the world. And knowing that the vaccine is very important, another question still remains open. Namely: assuming that the contagion has subsided by the summer, we have no certainty that it won't recur later.

CORONAVIRUS VACCINE

So there are dozens of research centers, everywhere, that are focused on the vaccine for the coronavirus, with competition that extends beyond health to geopolitics and the interests of large pharmaceutical multinationals. So, the world is on the hunt for a vaccine, and we'll have it soon. But returning to the initial question: what does the word "soon" mean in this case? If all goes well, in 2021; if a miracle occurs, which some authoritative scientists aren't ruling out, we could see something concrete as early as the end of 2020.

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CORONAVIRUS VACCINE TIMES

But how do we arrive at these predictions, and who is ahead in the race for a coronavirus vaccine? The timeline must be carved out starting from a roadmap that allows for no shortcuts. The first part of vaccine development is a quick process, very fast, and can even last a few monthsThis is why, in the midst of a pandemic, there are so many hyped-up announcements about alleged vaccine discoveries. In reality, in this initial phase, all that's being done is identifying a target against which the vaccine should be directed and taking the first steps toward developing it.

The rest, everything else, comes later, much later. And it's about longer stages, also for obvious safety reasons. Experimental models come first, followed by clinical trials, followed by animal and human trials. A prime example: the vaccine studied and tested most quickly was the Ebola vaccine. But it still took 2-3 years. Another example, on the negative side, is that some SARS vaccines have been halted for safety reasons.

coronavirus vaccine 2

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CORONAVIRUS VACCINE

The optimism, compared to the usual timeframes, in the case of the coronavirus is due to some elements that should be kept in mind.  All governments, starting from the most powerful ones, namely the United States and China, they are determined to reach the finish line, perhaps before others. And that's why they've put a mountain of money on the table for the coronavirus vaccine. Unheard of. Only America has earmarked $2,5 billion, and we know well that without funding, research is very slow and often unproductive. Here, we're in the opposite situation.

CORONAVIRUS RESEARCH

The second factor of optimism concerns the path of the coronavirus researchWe're not starting from scratch. In fact, we're already making progress thanks to research and vaccines developed for SARS, which belongs to the same family as the coronavirus.

And now we come to the players in this poker game, with science trying to win the battle against the pandemic and time. And with a generous helping of chips provided by governments. In first place, at least according to the information we have and which has been verified, are the Americans. And among the various places where work is being carried out at a frenetic pace to achieve this goal, the most important is the headquarters of the biotechnology company Moderna, which has developed a vaccine, starting precisely with SARS-Covid-2, in collaboration with the National Institute of Allergy and Infection Diseases (NIAID), an agency of the U.S. Department of Health.

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Coronavirus vaccine testing on volunteers

This classic public-private collaboration has put Americans ahead in the race for a coronavirus vaccine, and Seattle the first ones started tests on some volunteers They will be followed for a year, with three different doses of the vaccine. This is primarily to assess any possible side effects.

After the United States, and perhaps first, given that official news from Asia is always scarce and should be taken with a grain of salt, we have China. Here too, political pressure is enormous to get to the finish line first. In addition to health authorities, research centers, and private companies, there's the strongest player in this game, the Chinese ace in the hole: the Chinese Academy of Military Medical Sciences, which is also using genetic engineering, a field in which it has a strong presence. The one thing we do know is simple: In China, scientists from the Academy have begun testing the vaccine.

coronavirus vaccine 3

CORONAVIRUS VACCINE

Even the progress of the Russia They're quite mysterious. But the head of Russia's Federal Biomedical Agency (FMBA), Veronika Shvortsva, announced that the vaccine developed by her scientists has passed the first phase of development. And now it's moving on to human trials. The same thing in Israel, where the Migal laboratory in Galilee enjoys a significant advantage. It was here that the method that led to the oral SARS vaccination was developed and patented, back in the day. And the coronavirus uses the same cellular receptor as the SARS virus. Also in Europe there is a lot of excitement and studies of 35 vaccines have been submitted for evaluation by the European Medicines Agency (EMA).

CORONAVIRUS: EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW

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