How Coronavirus Vaccines Are Developed Faster Than Ever

How Coronavirus Vaccines Are Developed Faster Than Ever
The number of infected people is increasing, as is the number of fatalities - and the call for a vaccine is getting louder. In fact, only vaccination protection can possibly prevent the further spread of the 2019 nCoV.

This suggests that the new viruses can apparently already be passed on by asymptomatic, i.e. not yet recognizable, patients. This makes the already highly doubted sense of fever measuring devices at airports, border crossings or before entering public buildings even more questionable.

So far, experts have emphasized that there have hardly been any serious illnesses or deaths outside of China and that drastic disease courses have mostly been associated with previous illnesses. However, this statement only reflects the current state of knowledge, which is based on a data basis that is still provisional and constantly changing.

It is entirely possible that the virus “adapts” to humans - that is, with every infection and millions of virus multiplications in an infected person, such virus mutants occur that are easier to transmit. Ideally, they could change in such a way that ideally they no longer make their host seriously ill, but only misuse them temporarily as a copying machine. Then the virus would quickly go around the world and only a few would suffer from it. But it can also happen quite differently. The viruses could become more aggressive and deadly.
"Don't raise hopes"
In this unpredictable situation, the question of how quickly research will be able to provide a vaccine against a virus that did not exist until a few weeks ago is not only important but urgent.

The answer is astonishing and shows how much medical doctors, biologists, virologists and epidemiologists have learned over the past few years: Possibly even later this year, experts expect the first tests of a vaccine against the new coronavirus in humans.

In any case, that was "by no means quick enough for the current outbreak," said Klaus Cichutek, head of the Paul Ehrlich Institute, which is responsible for testing and licensing vaccines, in an interview with Tagesspiegel. But if the outbreak persists despite efforts to curb it, "limited vaccine use in clinical trials may still be possible."

[Read the detailed interview with the President of the Paul Ehrlich Institute Klaus Cichutek here]

Nevertheless, Cichutek "does not want to raise any hopes, because you have to wait for the results of the production, non-clinical and later clinical trials, whether such a vaccine can trigger the right immune response and is safe." That cannot be predicted, but must always be tested. And that takes time.

If Cichutek's forecast is true, it would be the fastest vaccine development ever. And Cichutek is still reluctant. The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) already announced its goal last week instead of wanting to test a vaccine on humans within four months in the case of 2019-nCoV after years. The organization, which is supported by the EU, the WHO, research organizations, pharmaceutical companies and private foundations such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, already supports biotech companies - such as Moderna Therapeutics and Inovio Pharmaceuticals in the USA, but also the Tübingen Curevac.

You have to keep in mind that the first diagnoses of 2019 nCOV infections only became known at the end of December 2019. The genetic makeup of the virus has been deciphered less than a month ago. And even now does a test authority believe it is possible that first tests of a vaccine against new virus creation can be carried out at unprecedented speed? The reason for this is long-standing research, hardly noticed by the public, and the development of completely new vaccine concepts against other coronaviruses such as Mers or Sars. "The fact that the Mers vaccine platforms were already in development means that switching can now happen quickly," says Cichutek.

The range of vaccine options is wide
The fact that the World Health Organization has declared the international health emergency (PHEIC) helps. The emergency facilitates international cooperation because it changes the setting of priorities worldwide. If a vaccine candidate in Germany meets the requirements for testing, it can also be tested quickly in other countries - faster than would otherwise be the case. "In addition, the announcement of an emergency is also a signal to the companies and the university vaccine developers to convert their previous vaccine concepts to the new corona virus," says Cichutek. "Not least because the appropriate support from re

In time to prevent the spread of the 2019 nCoV, even such a rapidly produced RNA vaccine will no longer come. Even so, the companies, the PEI, the WHO, and all the organizations and researchers involved will stick to rapid vaccine development, even if the outbreak should be over in a few weeks. Because the next outbreak is certain. It will not be the last time that a corona virus or any other pathogen has spread from animals to humans.