Coronavirus, COVID-19 and SARS-CoV-2 are three words that will certainly mark the year 2020. The outbreak has spread throughout the world, causing thousands of infected people and deaths to regret every day.
There is now a light at the end of the tunnel to combat this pandemic, as the experimental vaccine against COVID-19 has already been tested in humans.
The most recent data point to 179,880 COVID-19 cases, 7,098 deaths and 78,326 recovered. These cases are spread across 162 countries that the virus has already affected.
In Portugal, the latest information from DGS reports 331 infected people, 1 death, 3 recovered people and 2,908 suspected cases.
In the development of vaccines, there are laboratories that are trying to do everything. Some researchers are even trying to create temporary vaccines, which can protect people's health for a month or two, while a more powerful vaccine is developed.
Experimental vaccine for COVID-19 has been tested in humans
But the good news is coming! The first experimental vaccine against Coronavirus disease has already been tested for the first time in a patient. It is the first medicine that could be a solution to fight the virus.
According to the Business Insider, the vaccine was tested in Washington, USA, on a voluntary patient. It was the first clinical trial in people and it will take at least a year to know if it really works.
If the results are positive, then it is the most awaited news by the world population at a time when everyone is concerned about the outbreak.
But the administration of this new vaccine will go through some phases, and for now it is necessary to know if the drug is really safe for humans.
The vaccine was developed by Modern, a small biotechnology company from Massachusetts, and emerged quickly. The company went from following the genetic information of the virus to sending a potential vaccine to US health officials in 42 days.
The company also left the ad on its Twitter account:
We just announced that the first participant has been dosed in the NIH-led Phase 1 study of our #mRNA vaccine (mRNA-1273) against novel coronavirus https://t.co/14SDfdI1Az pic.twitter.com/LnJWYhAbkx
- Modern (@moderna_tx) March 16, 2020
Now, the investigation will focus on ensuring safe administration in humans by applying it to 45 healthy volunteers from the Seattle area.
Vaccine development resorted to new technology
Moderna's CEO spoke to Business Insider and explained that the speed was due to the use of new vaccine technology. That is, this method only requires the genetic code of the virus, instead of the virus itself.
There is still a long way to go, but US health officials say it will take between 1 year and 18 months to determine whether the vaccine is safe and effective.
This news comes after it was reported that the American President, Donald Trump, tried, with high economic incentives, to guarantee to the United States the exclusive right of a potential vaccine against the new coronavirus, in which the German company works CureVac which is developing a new technology, with private and public support from several countries, Welt am Sonntag reported this Sunday.
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