COVID-19 Vaccine - Gone With The Times?

//Vaccine Future//

COVID-19 vaccines have been on the priority list for a number of weeks now. I remember it was just a few months back where I was freely able to move around, head out to a bar for a drink and hang with friends and family. Travelling is a distant memory now and I find myself eagerly waiting for the next scientific jump to solving the pandemic. Vaccines are of course one viable and hopeful avenue to combat this pandemic. There are many conflicting reports around whether vaccines can really stop reinfection and I recently read over a suggestive piece that concludes that immunity may last for just 6 months, further testing is needed but I am still hopeful for a vaccine.

//Much Ado Without Nothing//

I wrote about Madagascar’s organic elixir previously, and noted a piece of research dating back to the SARS outbreak that linked sweet wormwood and other Chinese medicines as effective treatment. Something that stood out to me regarding this development was the fact that not much in the way of further developing this study has happened over the years. Wild theories aside, it ties into a recent statement from Oxford University who state that while human testing of their vaccine have started as of April, sustained testing and a widely available pool of infections may not be around by the target month of September. Numbers are rapidly decreasing in the United Kingdom which leaves scientists at odds with testing and it reminds of the question that popped into my mind the other day. With the sudden phasing out of SARS, perhaps this was one of the main reasons that no effective treatment or research continued over the years. It almost seems like a catch-22, a nation or the world needs to suffer before something can be conclusively tested.

//Treatment and Immunity//

It remains up in the air as to whether a vaccine can truly deliver sustained immunity. The political stance over resources is also an interesting balance. It would appear if a problem is going to solve itself through other means, some nations may not even bother with sourcing a vaccine down the road. While it’s been a few months of the ongoing pandemic, this is still viewed as early days of vaccine development and these things can sometimes takes years and years, decades even. This compressed time-frame is no doubt a product of scientific and technological advancement. I am still hopeful for a solution to managing the pandemic in the meantime, perhaps treatment of infection will be the greater breakthrough to curb mortality numbers before a vaccine can prove to be safe and effective in the coming years.

Sources

http://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2020-04-23-oxford-covid-19-vaccine-begins-human-trial-stage
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/coronavirus-vaccine-oxford-university-uk-astrazeneca-a9530606.html