A major step in preventing future COVID-19 outbreaks will be the development of a functional vaccine to inoculate the public against the novel coronavirus. Scientists have been working tirelessly to help bring such a vaccine to the public.
Today marks the beginning of a clinical test of the potential first vaccine against the coronavirus. The virus, which causes the COVID-19 respiratory illness, requires more than simple flu symptom relief to combat.
A Kaiser Permanente team in Seattle is facilitating the study. Study Lead Dr. Lisa Jackson said that her team is “team coronavirus” now that they’ve been greenlit to create a vaccine.
“Everyone wants to do what they can in this emergency,” she told reporters. According to the Associated Press, the first person injected with the new vaccine was Jennifer Haller, an American who works as an operations manager for a tech company in Seattle.
“We all feel so helpless. This is an amazing opportunity for me to do something,” Haller, 43, told reporters. The Seattle native is a mom of two, both of whom think it’s “pretty cool” that their mom is participating in the study as a volunteer.
According to Dr. Anthony Fauci of the US National Institutes of Health, the rapid turnaround on this study is critical.
Dr. Fauci stated that the vaccine is an urgent priority for public health, and that the study “is an important first step toward achieving that goal.”
However, Dr. Fauci warned that it could be as long as twelve to eighteen months before the vaccine will be available to the public.
The reason? It’s unclear if the vaccine even works, let alone is safe for use in the general public. This critical testing phase will determine that.
It could be months before doctors settle on a vaccine.
While the COVID-19 pandemic surges and the US is undergoing self-quarantines and social distancing, the idea of a vaccine to inoculate against the disease might sound a bit odd. If many people already have the disease, why would a vaccine matter?
Well, a vaccine will be critical in limiting the spread of the novel coronavirus, limiting its ability to infect new vectors and spread uninhibited.
As the US battles to keep the number of cases low and scrambles to treat patients who are already infected, there is little to be done to prevent the spread of the virus aside from quarantine and social distancing. However, a vaccine marks a true form of inoculation to stop the disease from spreading unchecked.
