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Does the Vaccine Is the Answer to End the Corona Epidemic?

Now Indonesia included Bali already starting New Normal life. But actually, everyone living their life only by implemented the strict health protocol and without a Covid-19 vaccination. Therefore, people who already decided to run their regular activities now have a high risk to have and spread the virus. Even we already have a permit to do our regular activities but we should always remember that the Coronavirus does not disappear at all. It still exists and we must protect ourselves with double protection by following the rules and health protocol in daily activities.

World Health Organization (WHO) and many researchers considered that vaccination is the only solution to stop the spread of the virus. If we have a vaccine against the Covid-19, the distance between each other can relax and all of us can run the normal life without feeling afraid of the risk of contamination by the Covid-19. Researchers and scientists around the world are developing more than 155 vaccines against the coronavirus, and 22 vaccines are in human trials. There is no one already has a fixed result of the experiment, because it take a quite long time until it can produce on a large scale and distribute it to the community. Below is further information that you need to know about the Covid-19 vaccine, therefore you will understand why we should keep maintaining our health protection before the vaccine ready.

When will we have a coronavirus vaccine?

A vaccine would normally take years, if not decades, to develop. Researchers hope to achieve the same amount of work in only a few months. Most experts think a vaccine is likely to become widely available by mid-2021, about 12-18 months after the new virus, known officially as Sars-CoV-2, first emerged. That would be a huge scientific feat and there are no guarantees it will work. Four coronaviruses already circulate in human beings. They cause common cold symptoms and we don’t have vaccines for any of them.

How do you create a vaccine?

Vaccines harmlessly show viruses or bacteria (or even small parts of them) to the immune system. The body’s defenses recognize them as an invader and learn how to fight them. Then if the body is ever exposed for real, it already knows what to do. The main method of vaccination for decades has been to use the original virus. The measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccines are made by using weakened viruses that cannot cause a full-blown infection. The seasonal flu jab takes the main strains of flu doing the rounds and completely disables them. Some scientists, particularly those in China, are using this approach.

There is also work on coronavirus vaccines using newer, and less tested approaches called “plug and play” vaccines. Because we know the genetic code of the new coronavirus, Sars-CoV-2, we have the complete blueprint for building it. Researchers in Oxford have put small sections of its genetic code into a harmless virus that infects chimpanzees. They hope they have developed a safe virus that looks enough like the coronavirus to produce an immune response. Other groups are using pieces of raw genetic code (either DNA or RNA depending on the approach) which, once injected into the body, should start producing bits of viral proteins in which the immune system can learn to fight. However, this approach is completely new.

How the virus testing process?

The development cycle of a vaccine from lab to the clinic, quoted from www.nytimes.com.

PRECLINICAL TESTING: Scientists give the vaccine to animals such as mice or monkeys to see if it produces an immune response.

PHASE I SAFETY TRIALS: Scientists give the vaccine to a small number of people to test safety and dosage as well as to confirm that it stimulates the immune system.

PHASE II EXPANDED TRIALS: Scientists give the vaccine to hundreds of people split into groups, such as children and the elderly, to see if the vaccine acts differently in them. These trials further test the vaccine’s safety and ability to stimulate the immune system.

PHASE III EFFICACY TRIALS: Scientists give the vaccine to thousands of people and wait to see how many become infected, compared with volunteers who received a placebo. These trials can determine if the vaccine protects against the coronavirus.

APPROVAL: Regulators in each country review the trial results and decide whether to approve the vaccine or not. During a pandemic, a vaccine may receive emergency use authorization before getting formal approval.

WARP SPEED: The U.S. government’s Operation Warp Speed program is expected to name five or more vaccine projects to receive billions of dollars in federal funding before there’s proof that the vaccines work. We will update the tracker and label the Warp Speed projects when there is an official announcement.

COMBINED PHASES: Another way to accelerate vaccine development is to combine phases. Some coronavirus vaccines are now in Phase I/II trials, for example, in which they are tested for the first time on hundreds of people. (Note that our tracker would count a combined Phase I/II trial as both Phase I and Phase II.)

What Would a COVID-19 Vaccine Do?

When you come into contact with viruses or bacteria, your body’s immune system makes antibodies to fight them off. A vaccine forces your immune system to make antibodies against a specific disease, usually with a dead or weakened form of the germs. Then, if you come into contact with them again, your immune system knows what to do. The vaccine gives you immunity, so you do not get sick or so your illness is much milder than it otherwise would have been. A vaccine against Covid-19 would slow its spread around the world. Fewer people would get sick, and more lives could be saved.

How many people need to be a vaccine?

It is hard to know without knowing how effective the vaccine is going to be. It is thought that 60-70% of people needed to be immune to the virus to stop it spreading easily (known as herd immunity). But that would be billions of people around the world even if the vaccine worked perfectly.

Who would get the vaccine?

If a vaccine is developed, then there will be a limited supply, at least initially, so it will be important to prioritize. Healthcare workers who come into contact with Covid-19 patients would top the list. The disease is most deadly in older people so they would be a priority if the vaccine was effective in this age group. The UK has also said other people considered to be at high risk – potentially included those with some conditions or from certain ethnicities – may be prioritized.

Would a vaccine protect people of all ages?

It will, almost inevitably, be less successful in older people, because aged immune systems do not respond as well to immunization. We see this with the annual flu jab. It may be possible to overcome this by either giving multiple doses or giving it alongside a chemical (called an adjuvant) that gives the immune system a boost.

Conclusion

Well, that is all you need to know about the Covid-19 vaccine. Until now, we still don’t have the vaccine or exact medicine against the virus. Because the vaccine is still in the experiment process that cannot be done in a short time. Whether it can be the solution to stop the spread of the virus or not, it depends on the result of the experiment that still running by the researcher all around the world. After all, the process and the trial to a large scale of humans are done and it already showed a significant result, then the researcher can do the next step and in the end, people all over the world can have a vaccination against the spread of the virus. Keep being patient, protect yourself with the health protocol while in the outside activities.

 

Sources: www.bbc.com, www.nytimes.com, www.webmd.com

 

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