Three-and-a-half months after 'Moderna Therapeutics' injected doses of the experimental COVID-19 vaccine in 45 participants, positive results have been reported. Dr Anthony Fauci, who has advised six Presidents on deadly viruses and diseases including Ebola and HIV/ AIDS, has said this gives hope. He said that by the beginning of 2021, "the world is likely to get a vaccine for coronavirus, as many vaccine candidates have been experimenting their research, while volunteers have exhibited noticeable growth."
As many as 45 individuals who had volunteered for the Moderna vaccine trial in March are now ready to enter the Phase 3 of the experiment that will involve a larger pool of 30,000 volunteers. In a live with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg earlier this week, Fauci said: "The candidates who were given the experimental vaccine have 'real bullets' or neutralizing antibodies that can fight the pathogen (COVID). It induced it at levels at a moderate dose of the vaccine that were as high as or higher than what you see with plasma after natural infection."
The Director of National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984, Fauci recognizes that "there is a high probability of deriving a possible idea over a vaccine, by late fall or early winter." He told Zuckerberg in the live video that he is "cautiously optimistic about this Mark." Moreover, Fauci has been studying many vaccine candidates, wherein the researchers have reached a stage that allows tests on people, experimentally.
However, Moderna's vaccine is the only candidate that allows such a large number of 30,000 participants, while Fauci and NIAID are mulling talks with the government, so that a similar process can help candidates like Oxford, Johnson and Johnson and Pfizer Inc, who have also achieved certain development in their research over COVID vaccine. Fauci aims to introduce such mass experimental programs with the researchers so that once the cure is ready it can serve the world by treating people who have contracted the virus. "Individuals can start signing up to volunteer for these studies. While many might think this is a race for one winner, I'm cheering every one of them on," Fauci has stated.
The NIAID Director is not bothered about who invents the vaccine first. He brushed aside the fact that China is also in the vaccine race. Speaking to Reuters, he said: "While there aren't any warranties, I am well about the projected schedule," adding that the potential candidates in the US are showing good results.
Meanwhile, Moderna Therapeutics has physical proof of what it calls development in the fight against coronavirus. The shot discovered by researchers here initially caused high fever in volunteers. However, 29-year-old Ian Haydon of Seattle, who was one of the 45 volunteers said: "As we rush to discover one, the reality of vaccine development is that it can only be rushed so much and the trial still needs to take place. Researchers and doctors have to move at the speed they move at. And stories like what happened to me, they matter because they shape the approval process."
Professor of preventive medicine and infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center – William Schaffner said: "The side effects are considerable and noteworthy, but it does not stop the process. Patients tolerate the impact of the medicine on their bodies, because they want to get better."
Haydon further described his experience. "I don't regret the decision I made to enroll in this study. The motive of Phase 1 trial is achieved that was to study the health issues after the vaccine is injected, and that how it might treat the virus inside the body." Fauci is also very considerate of the antiviral medication Remdesivir that is another potential candidate to treat COVID-19.
