There are currently 159 candidates for the vaccines, 11 of which have already conducted the human trials and 8 have been approved to move forward with further human testing. Moderna – RNA CanSino Biologics – Adenovirus type 5 Inovio – DNA BioNTech, Pfizer – RNA University of Oxford/ Astrazeneca – Chimp Adenovirus Novavax – Virus like particle Merck & Co. – Nucleic acid Johnson & Johnson – Ad 26 Sanofi, Glaxosmithkline – Protein based vaccine
To understand the process behind vaccine development, you have to go back to my section on immunology and recall how the body fends off a microbe. Recall that the first line of defense against a foreign entity like a virus is the innate immunity which tries to create a barrier against entry followed by a non-discriminate attack against the antigen until the more sophisticated adaptive immunity has had a chance to recruit specific antibodies that bind
In this series which will probably be about 10 parts I am going to talk about vaccines. There is much to know about development of a vaccine and I am going to try to break it down. As in my other posts you have to read these in sequence to get the most out of it. Here is the description of all the sections and every day you will be introduced to one section. Part
A study in Lancet looked at viability of the virus at 4 degrees celsius (which is the refrigerator temperature), at room temperature and at human body temperature. In liquid SARS-Cov 2 is stable at 4 degrees Celsius , that is in the refrigerator for over a week. Therefore any item that is contaminated with the virus will continue to carry the virus for up to one week. Be sure to keep fruits out
How long does SARS-Cov-2 survive on surfaces? A study published in New England Journal of Medicine looked at the viability of the virus on surfaces. The reduction of number of surfaces are measured in log numbers. Therefore we look at 10 fold reduction of viral agents. Say for example you have 100,000 viruses, then we would want to know how long it takes for enough viruses to die to reach 10,000. In order for the
