[Global Insight] Can a COVID-19 vaccine be developed by year-end?

영국서 신종코로나 백신 동물실험 시작…"올해 말 도입 목표"

The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases around the world has soared past 100-thousand.
Governments are scrambling to respond to this unprecedented threat to public health,... and researchers are working to develop a vaccine. But how close are they?

Today, we are going speak with Dr. Paul McKay, a Senior Research Fellow at the Department of Infectious Disease at Imperial College London.
Dr. McKay and his fellow researchers have been working to develop an effective vaccine for the coronavirus,... coming up with a candidate vaccine within just 14 days of getting the sequence from China.
Thank you for joining us today,... all the way from London.

1. Your lab responded very quickly to the coronavirus outbreak, becoming the world's first outside China to start testing on animals. How were you able to get started so quickly?

2. How would your coronavirus vaccine work, once it's developed for human use?

3. In mid-February, you used your vaccine in mice. What have you observed so far?

4. What are the unique characteristics of COVID-19 that you had to consider when developing your vaccine?
In addition, what makes it challenging to develop a vaccine for COVID-19 in particular?

5. There are various efforts around the world to develop an effective vaccine. Some are calling it a race. In what ways is it competitive and is there room for collaboration?

6. There are worries that COVID-19 will mutate. What can be done to ensure the vaccine continues to work?

7. Some believe it could take years to develop an effective vaccine as it normally involves a very lengthy, drawn out process, along with the strict regulatory standards you have to meet. How are you planning to achieve that by the end of the year?

8. There seems to have been a boom and bust phenomenon in funding coronavirus research. What made you choose this field of study and why is it so critical for researchers to prepare for future outbreaks?

Well, that's all we have time for today.
Dr. McKay, we wish you and your team the best of luck in developing a COVID-19 vaccine and hope we can see it before the end of the year
Dr. Paul McKay Senior Research Fellow at Imperial College London. Thank you for joining us.

#interview #coronavirus #vaccine

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