Open AccessCOVID-19 vaccine development and the way forward
Author(s) -
Narendra K. Arora,
Manoj Das
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
indian journal of public health/indian journal of public health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.381
H-Index - 26
eISSN - 2229-7693
pISSN - 0019-557X
DOI - 10.4103/ijph.ijph_520_20
Subject(s) - pandemic , medicine , immunology , covid-19 , middle east respiratory syndrome , intensive care medicine , immunity , immune system , virology , disease , infectious disease (medical specialty)
The whole globe is reeling under the COVID-19 pandemic now. With the scale and severity of infection, number of deaths and lack of any definite therapeutic armamentarium, the vaccine development has been accelerated at a never-before pace. A wide variety of vaccine technologies and platforms are being attempted. Out of the over 108 efforts, 100 are in preclinical and eight in Phase 1 or 2 trial stage. While the availability of newer technologies has facilitated development, there are several challenges on the way including limited understanding of the pathophysiology, targeting humoral or mucosal immunity, lack of suitable animal model, poor success of human severe acute respiratory syndrome/Middle East Respiratory Syndrome vaccines, limited efficacy of influenza vaccines, and immune exaggeration with animal coronavirus vaccines. With the current scenario with political, funding, research, and regulatory supports, if everything sails through smoothly, the successful vaccine is expected in 12-18 months. Modestly efficacious vaccine may be also a good achievement.