As corona virus pandemic is spreading all over the world, more than 100 companies and institutions are working on creating a COVID-19 vaccine. All the corona virus vaccine programs are in different stages. Some are doing animal trials while some have reached limited human trial stage. WHO (World Health Organization) is supporting and co-coordinating all the COVID-19 vaccine development programs.
Vaccines are created from weakened or dead bacteria or viruses. After vaccination, body is trained to fight the targeted virus. So next time when the same virus or bacteria enters, your body is well prepared to fight with it. Out of all the COVID-19 vaccine programs, following look promising with 70 to 80% chances of success.
- University of Oxford research group COVID-19 vaccine
- Moderna’s RNA vaccine
- Adenovirus COVID-19 vaccine
- ICMR-Bharat Biotech COVID-19 vaccine
Vaccine testing is done in phases. In first phase, the vaccine is tried on animals like mice and monkeys. In second phase, limited human trials are done for age groups between 20 to 50. In final stage, human trials are done for all age groups. Vaccine may not be available always. There are diseases like Dengue, HIV/AIDS, Malaria etc. for which there is no authorized vaccine available till date. Once a vaccine is developed, it needs to be produced and distributed for masses. Which also accounts for a significant time. Due to these reasons, generally it takes 12 to 14 months to create a vaccine and make it accessible.