New Delhi:With the COVID-19 pandemic wreaking havoc world over, the international community is working aggressively towards a vaccine, and all estimates are putting the delivery date 12 to 18 months away.
While a period of more than one year might seem extremely far off, in terms of the development of a vaccine, it is not as long as it seems, as the process is extremely complex.
Because the world has taken giant strides in the fields of technology and mutual cooperation, the development of a new vaccine is now a matter of few months rather than several years.
Vaccines work on the concept of preparing the natural human immune system to first recognise, and then fight and eliminate viruses and bacteria.
Vaccines release small amounts of information about a virus, in order for the body to develop an optimum immune response to it.
While traditional vaccine methods, like growing virus in eggs or cells was time-consuming, the modern methods of DNA and RNA based vaccines are much faster, as they can be produced in labs.
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However, it is encouraging that various companies are different methods to develop a vaccine, which increases the probability of at least one vaccine eventually working.
Even once a vaccine is ready, proper testing is required before it hits the shelves. If not tested properly, vaccines can put healthy people at risk, as in the first place, they are administered to healthy people to prevent them from contracting a disease.
While trial processes, which take years to ensure that a vaccine is both safe and effective, countries across the globe are now making concerted efforts to expedite the process.
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Once it passes the tests, the process still has to go through the final, but important phase -- manufacturing.
It becomes extremely important for an approved vaccine to be mass produced quickly so that it can save more people.
While many feel that manufacturing can be carried out simultaneously with testing so the product can hit the shelves on approval, it is not recommended due to the process of incurring heavy losses it the vaccine does not pass the trials.
In order to encourage mass production and to eliminate this risk of losses, the international community is working together, with the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) even pushing for $2 billion funding to support the development of vaccines.
Vaccines are extremely critical as they save lives and also ensure that the society gets back to functioning normally as soon as possible.
