Explained: Why the development of coronavirus vaccine is delayed?

New Delhi, May 20: With the number of coronavirus cases on the rise, there has been news about inventing a new vaccine that could fight against the spread of COVID-19. But, there are several other far-fetched approaches where the invention of the vaccine not as close we think.

According to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who is also the coronavirus survivor, had reportedly said that the invention of the vaccine remains a very long way to go and a vaccine might not come to fruition.

What are the series of stages to develop a vaccine?

It is evident that the development of a vaccine is a long process that can lose the momentum at any step. Also, there is another issue of effectiveness. Meanwhile, several other questions arise on how the vaccine performs in real-life conditions against efficacy.

As per the protocols, once a candidate is identified, the safety and efficacy of the candidate have to be tested over three phases. The fourth stage involves the collection and analysis of post-marketing data.

In this case of coronavirus, there are more than 100 vaccines developed across the world, while some are developed from scratch and some from the existing molecules developed for other diseases.

What is Oxford University's stand on the development of a vaccine?

Recently, Oxford University had reportedly announced that it is ready to trial its vaccine candidate that was developed from the common cold virus whose safety in humans is already established.

"ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 is made from a virus (ChAdOx1), which is a weakened version of a common cold virus that causes infections in chimpanzees, that has been genetically changed so that it is impossible for it to grow in humans. Genetic material has been added to the ChAdOx1 construct, that is used to make proteins from the COVID-19 virus (SARS-CoV-2) called Spike glycoprotein (S)," the University said

Meanwhile, a recent report revealed that the university gave out the results of the vaccine trial in macaques. "We observed a significantly reduced viral load in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid and respiratory tract tissue of vaccinated animals challenged with SARS-CoV-2 compared with control animals, and no pneumonia was observed in vaccinated rhesus macaques." In simple words, the said vaccine had not prevented the novel virus but had prevented pneumonia.

What is CanSino Biologics' stand on the invention of the vaccine?

Several reports claimed that Hong Kong-listed firm CanSino Biologics is testing a vaccine. Recently, Phase one trials were cleared and the vaccine is currently moving into Phase two that is allegedly "based on the preliminary safety data of Phase I clinical trial".

Imperial College London

The government of the United Kingdom is reportedly funding a vaccine effort at Imperial College London. Professor Robin Shattock, the Head of Mucosal Infection and Immunity in the UK Department of Medicine, and his team developed the vaccine within 14 days of getting the gene sequence of the virus from China. However, it is reportedly said that the vaccine is not being tested in animals. The researchers are expected to move to human trials soon. The Professor was quoted as saying that the vaccine could be available sometime next year.