Researchers in the U.S. administered the first experimental vaccine for COVID-19 last Monday. This experimental test lead the worldwide scramble for protection as the pandemic slowly takes more and more victims daily from all over the world.
Scientists at the Kaiser Permanente Washington Research Institute in Seattle injected a healthy volunteer and anxiously awaited the effects of the first-stage vaccine study. Since the research institute is part of a government network of centers that have already been testing different types of vaccines, they were chosen for the coronavirus vaccine study, even before the virus spread so rapidly all over Washington state.
The injection was then developed speedily, right after the coronavirus explosion all over China, and soon, all over the world.
Dr. Lisa Jackson, a Kaiser Permanente study leader said: “Were team coronavirus now. Everyone wants to do what they can in this emergency.”
Kaiser Permanente screened dozens of locals, looking for those without any chronic health problems and aren’t currently feeling under the weather. The researchers did not check if their volunteers were previously infected with COVID-19 before deciding their eligibility. Participants will be paid $100 for each clinic visit.
“We all feel so helpless. This is an amazing opportunity for me to do something,” said 43-year-old Jennifer Haller, from Seattle, as she was waiting for the injection. After the shot, she left the exam room in high spirits: “I’m feeling great.”
The mother of two teens said that her kids ‘think its cool’ thats she’s playing her part to help find the cure to this pandemic.
The study will give 45 volunteers two doses a month apart.
This medicinal milestone is just the start of a series of studies with volunteers to test if shots are safe, and if they actually function.
Dr. Anthony Fauci of the U.S. National Institutes of Health did mention that even if the research is a success, a vaccine for the pandemic will not be readily available to the public for up to 12 to 18 months. Still, finding a vaccine “is an urgent health priority. The new study, lunched in record speed, is an important first step toward achieving that goal,” said Fauci in a statement made last week.
The vaccine candidate with code name mRNA-1273 was developed by NIH and Moderna Inc, a Massachusetts-based biotechnology company. Participants have no chance of getting infected because these shots do not contain the coronavirus itself.
Dozens of other research groups all over the world are also in the race to potentially find a cure. Another candidate that was created by Inovio Pharmaceuticals is also about to begin its safety study in the U.S., China and South Korea.
The Seattle experiment was able to start just days after the World Health Organization announced the virus outbreak a pandemic, due to its rapid spread that has already infected 203,000 people and killing more than 8,000.
COVID-19 has completely crashed the globes social and economic lives since it first infected so many citizens in China last January; with schools and business being shut down for the unforeseeable future, to restricting travel, cancelling events and encouraging social distancing.
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