A clinical trial to evaluate a vaccine created to protect against the new coronavirus will begin on Monday (March 16), the Associated Press reported, citing an unnamed United States government official.
Public health officials say a year to 18 months are needed to be able to validate any potential vaccine that would be mass-produced and distributed.
Health officials have said that even if a vaccine is developed, it will take anywhere between 12 to 18 months for it to be available at the mass-scale required to stop the spread of the virus.
These early trial vaccines don't contain the virus itself, so there is no risk that the people involved will be infected.
It must be noted that almost 50% of people infected from the virus eventually had a full recovery.
The AP report is sourced from a a government official.
There are now no approved vaccines or treatments against the coronavirus disease, known as COVID-19, which has infected more than 175,000 people across the world since it was first identified in central China in late December.
The fact that a trial for a potential vaccine for COVID-19 is about to start is unquestionably a step in the right direction.
Normally a weaker bug is planted in the body so a patient can adapt to fight off the infection - like the MMR vaccine. Another candidate, made by Inovio Pharmaceuticals, is expected to begin its own safety study - in the United States, China and South Korea - next month.
But because vaccines are given to millions of healthy people, it takes time to test them in large enough numbers to spot an uncommon side effect, cautioned Dr. Nelson Michael of the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, which is developing a different vaccine candidate.
While there are no special treatments or drugs for COVID-19, institutes and organizations have been trying combinations of HIV drugs and flu medication to treat patients. The University of Nebraska Medical Center has already used the antiviral in a small number of Americans who were infected while aboard a cruise ship in Japan in February.
It has claimed 7,000 deaths, according to an AFP tally, most in China followed by Italy.
It comes as German officials are trying to stop the Donald Trump administration from luring German biopharmaceutical company CureVac to the U.S. to get its experimental coronavirus vaccines exclusively for Americans. However, if this Seattle trial goes successful, then there will be a hope to find a proper vaccine for the Novel Coronavirus.
