In recent weeks biotech and clinical research communities have pivoted resources toward developing vaccines against SARS-CoV-2. Teams around the world are researching various methods of vaccine development, some of which have no approved precedent in the United States. As of this writing, researchers are investigating over 90 potential vaccines. Several of these vaccines are already in active clinical trials, reflecting the staggering speed and urgency with which these vaccines have been developed. If they are successful in delivering a vaccine in the predicted 12 to 18 months, it will be “the fastest vaccine development in history,” according to one researcher.
Given the global effort and race to a vaccine, the World Health Organization last week launched the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator, which brings together key global health professionals, private sector partners and other stakeholders to accelerate the development and production of COVID-19 essential health technologies, including vaccines, and to help guarantee equitable access.
Additional resources about vaccine development for COVID-19:
Nature
This article, which appears in Nature, maps out the various approaches to vaccine development around the world.
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-01221-y
STAT News
STAT News offers a tracker of both treatment and vaccine development, which is updated about every five minutes.
https://www.statnews.com/feature/coronavirus/drugs-vaccines-tracker/
Scientific American
One of the novel approaches includes genetic engineering, as outlined in this Scientific American article.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/genetic-engineering-could-make-a-covid-19-vaccine-in-months-rather-than-years/
CITI Program Resources
CITI offers a course on the regulatory and ethical issues important in biomedical research, including genetic research,
https://about.citiprogram.org/course/biomedical-biomed-basic
CITI has developed a COVID-19 Resource Center for research and health professionals. You can visit here: https://about.citiprogram.org/coronavirus-covid-19-resources
