According to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) chief scientist, England’s Oxford University researchers are ahead in the race of developing a successful vaccine to combat the present coronavirus pandemic.
There are several steps in developing a successful and safe vaccine. At first, it is tested on mice. After completing this stage, the vaccine is tested on a small group of people, later tested on several hundred people. Finally, a large scale trial is conducted to check if there are any side-effects and whether it can generate sufficient antibodies. In the end, the virus gets approval from regulators.
But now humanity is facing an unprecedented pandemic and just one successful trial would be enough for regulators to approve for emergency use. The present covid-19 pandemic has already killed more than five hundred thousand people and infected more than twelve million people.
This vaccine by Oxford researchers is likely to give protection from covid-19 for one year.
Oxford vaccine is in three late-stage trials, which may be completed by the end of August or at the beginning of September. British company AstraZeneca is simultaneously building an international supply chain to deliver the vaccine. This vaccine will be available for high-risk people in October. But we may need to wait till early next year to get full approval. This company has already received order of two billion doses and each dose will cost roughly the same price as a cup of coffee. Many global personalities including Bangladeshi Nobel laureate Mohammad Yunus has appealed for declaring the upcoming vaccine as the property of humanity so that everyone gets the vaccine.
UK prime minister Boris Johnson termed this initiative to develop vaccine as “the most urgent shared endeavor of our lifetimes”.