COVID-19 vaccine: How far is it?
The pandemic is hitting the whole world pretty badly, since its beginning in March. WHO suggested that states should make things like wearing the mask, social distancing, even curfew a must, but none of these measures had proven 100% useful in the long term.
Long term solution
Obviously. that long-term solution is vaccines. Currently, the world is on the verge of the third wave of the Coronavirus, and the estimations are that this wave is going to be more deadly than the other two combined. In other words, since it is the time of the season influenza virus also, a quick and long term solution is essential. However, the future looks bright, since we are very close to the vaccine coming into full use. Why is that so?
Vaccine development
Currently, the Russian science institute “Gamaleya Center” announced that their vaccine “Sputnik V” has 92% efficiency against the virus and that it is currently in the third stage of development, which means that it should be available for limited use in December 2020. Some other vaccines that are in late-stage of development are:
- Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine,
This vaccine showed 90% efficiency against the virus, and it is already been tested on more than 40000 people. It is also in the third stage, and it will soon be available for limited use.
- Zydus Cadila vaccine,
This vaccine is in a second stage since august, it is planned to move to the next stage at the beginning of December.
- CureVac,
This vaccine is in the preliminary stage, which means that it is an intermediated step between the second and third stages. The start of the third stage is planned at the end of the year.
How to track the vaccine development?
First of all, you must know the stages that exist. There are five different stages: phase 1, phase 2, phase 3, limited use, approved. Currently, there are 39 vaccines in the first stage, 16 in the second, 12 in the third, 6 are in limited use, and there are still none fully approved vaccines. So, when you hear about some vaccine development, you should check which stage it is. For more vaccine tracking you can check here.
