• Question: Are scientists close to a vaccine for coronavirus and if so when will it be ready.

    Asked by anon-253228 on 5 May 2020. This question was also asked by anon-253693, anon-255051.
    • Photo: Alex Holmes

      Alex Holmes answered on 5 May 2020:

      That’s a really good question. There are a number of research groups working on coronavirus vaccines – here’s a really nice infographic explaining different kinds of vaccines and how they help us develop immunity (https://media.nature.com/original/magazine-assets/d41586-020-01221-y/d41586-020-01221-y.pdf).

      The thing is, it’s really really important to test these vaccines – make sure they’re safe and they work through a process called clinical trials, which in normal cases can take years. In the case of coronavirus, because of the immediate need for a vaccine these tests have been “fast-tracked”, meaning safety and efficacy (how well they work) testing can happen much faster and alongside each other, which is why people are estimating around a year to 18 months until we have one.

      The next issue is that we need enough vaccine to give to people, and it can take a really long time to get all the ingredients and equipment and packaging and storage to do this. So, it’s likely that the vaccine will come out in batches where the most high risk and front-line workers are given it first and then it will be made available to everyone else.

      So the answer is, we’re close and thanks to how seriously the situation is being taken we’re even closer than we might otherwise have been, but it will still take time, planning, testing and manufacturing until we’re fully there.

    • Photo: Ben Wiggins

      Ben Wiggins answered on 5 May 2020:

      Hi, thanks for your very important question! Scientists around the world are working together in an unprecedented effort to understand the exactly what a successful immune response to the virus looks like and to use that to generate the best vaccine. As it is such a new virus, we still have lots to learn, but progress is happening fast! The best vaccine would have to be safe, effective at inducing long-lasting immunity and scalable/mass producible. We cant be sure yet when this will be ready as the process normally takes years of research and testing to get to, but best estimates right now are at some time within 2021. It may seem like this is still a long time to develop a vaccine, but there are many factors that affect the immune system like age, sex, stress, presence of other chronic disease and many more, and like I mentioned the safety and ability to trigger long lasting immune memory are absolutely essential to get right. There are reasons to be optimistic – over 90 novel coronavirus vaccines are in development, and a few have already started human trials (the university of Oxford led study springs to mind). I, like many other scientists, am hopeful that a safe, efficient vaccine will be available in this timeframe, and this would be an amazing example of the incredible things science can accomplish when everyone works together – but much work remains to be done yet!

      Here are some great resources put together by immunology experts on all sorts of coronavirus related questions. https://www.immunology.org/news/coronavirus-immunology-qa-what-you-need-know-about-our-new-report Have a look for more information!

    • Photo: Lucy McGowan

      Lucy McGowan answered on 5 May 2020:

      This is really important question! There are currently lots of scientists looking for a vaccine around the world. Some labs are still trying to discover and develop new ways of making a coronavirus vaccine. Some vaccines are already being tested (human trials) which is great news. There’s not just one type of vaccine being researched, having lots of different vaccines in development means that if some don’t work very well, or some aren’t safe to use, we will have other options. Before a vaccine can be given to lots of people it has to be rigorously tested to make sure that 1) It is SAFE and 2) It is EFFECTIVE at providing immunity against the virus. Vaccine trials take place in phases. The first phase is carried out in healthy volunteers and makes sure that there are no dangerous side effects and that the vaccine is safe. The next stages of trials involves testing how much of the vaccine we should give to people (dose) and whether it works. These phases usually happen one after another and take many years. However, during a pandemic, some of the phases can be carried out at the same time and much faster with the aim to get a vaccine available for people quicker. This is because the demand and urgency for coronavirus vaccines is very high. We can’t put an exact date on when a vaccine will become available. There are lots of different vaccine candidates being tested around the world and they are in the early stages. Some of these candidates won’t work, but with so many under development, you would expect that some of them will. The really great thing is that because there’s a huge international effort with lots of scientists all working towards the same goal, we can expect a vaccine will be ready much sooner than with ordinary vaccine development. Estimates at the moment are really varying – the latest I heard was around 1 year until one is “ready” but there’s nothing to say that it won’t take more time (or hopefully less time) than that.

    • Photo: anon

      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.

    • Photo: Amy Mason

      Amy Mason answered on 5 May 2020:

      There are lots of great answers here already, but you might also like this website:
      https://vac-lshtm.shinyapps.io/ncov_vaccine_landscape/
      It shows all the vaccines currently in progress and at what stage in the testing they are at.

    • Photo: Rachel Tanner

      Rachel Tanner answered on 5 May 2020:

      Great question! My department in Oxford is currently testing a vaccine in humans, and this blog tells you more information about how long it will take:
      https://covid19vaccinetrial.co.uk/blog-how-long-will-it-take-get-oxford-vaccine-deployment

      It would normally take more than 5 years to develop a vaccine, so scientists are working super-hard to get this one as quickly as possible while still making sure it is safe and works well.

    • Photo: Laura Durrant

      Laura Durrant answered on 6 May 2020:

      Excellent question. I see a few of my scientist friends have already provided you with lots of useful information! So rather than re-irritating what they have said, here is a useful website all about what we know about the science behind COVID-19 so far: https://coronavirusexplained.ukri.org/en/. The ‘vaccination, diagnosis and treatment’ section may help you with your question!

Comments