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anon answered on 5 May 2020: last edited 5 May 2020 12:18 pm
This is a great and timely question and one that I’m very happy to answer because I work in the vaccine field!
The short answer is we don’t know, but a lot of scientists are aiming for a vaccine in a year. The long answer is this –
Vaccine development goes through a lot of steps to make sure that a vaccine works to protect us.
1. At first a disease is discovered and the way it makes us sick is studied in the body and in the lab.
2. With that information a vaccine is produced. It is then tested in tubes to see if its safe and effective (if our disease fighting cells recognise it and would protect our body from it)
3. After it’s proved to be safe for humans, it goes through 3 clinical trial phases where it is tested in people. This also helps to check that it is effective in people of different ages and backgrounds.At the moment, there are over a 100 vaccines being tested across the world. A lot of them are in step 2 and some of them are at the beginning of step 3. The time it takes to complete step 3 can take years but because of the urgency of the coronavirus pandemic, some groups are aiming for 12-18 months. However, completing all the 3 clinical trial phases doesn’t guarantee that at the end the vaccine will be good enough, which is why it’s great that there are so many vaccines being tested – more vaccines means more chances of success.
In the meantime, a great way to prevent spread before we have a vaccine is hand washing and the measures put in place by the government.
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modmia commented on :
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