Researchers Develop Coronavirus Vaccine but Needs Time to Test It

Hong Kong researchers have already developed a vaccine for lethal Chinese coronavirus. However, scientists need time to test it, according to infectious diseases expert Professor Yuen Kwok-Yung.

Scientists in mainland China and the United States were also separately hurrying to supply a vaccine for the new virus that killed hundreds of people and infected thousands of others.

Yuen, chair of infectious diseases at the University of Hong Kong, and his team discovered that they are working at the vaccine.

Without giving a particular time body on when it might be provided to the patients, Yuen told SCMP they have already produced the vaccine. However, the chairperson said the vaccine needs protracted time to be tested.

He stated it might take months to test the vaccine on animals and at least another yr to conduct scientific trials on humans before it was matched for use.

HKU researchers primarily based the test on a nasal spray influenza vaccine previously invented by Yuen's group.

Researchers altered the flu vaccine with coronavirus' antigen. The modification, according to the researchers, could prevent influenza viruses as well as the new coronavirus, which causes pneumonia.

The vaccine, if correctly tested, might be the answer to a disease that infected more than 4,000 people worldwide and killed hundreds in mainland China.

Hong Kong had confirmed at least eight cases. More than 70 people with suspected cases were reported as of midday Tuesday. More than 100 humans are currently isolated in public hospitals.

As mainland media quoted Chinese infectious diseases professional Li Lanjuan on Monday saying that the vaccine focused on the coronavirus was being developed and could be created in a month, Yuen expressed doubts.

Yuan explained the only being developed in the mainland is probably an inactivated virus vaccine. The "inactivated vaccine," according to Yuan, is made of a virus grown in a culture that had its contagiousness destroyed by chemicals or radiation.

According to Yuen, the vaccine needs to be injected into an animal to test if it creates a terrific immune response. He added that the vaccinated animal would then be exposed to the virus to look if it is protected.

The scientist explained that the vaccine would undergo medical trials on people if it appears to be stable and secure in several animal species. Yuan added the test would take at least one year to be fully used.

Yuan expressed his worry that the approach would be taken away by the mainland side to broaden a vaccine could lead to more complications. He said this type of response for coronavirus had been recorded in some reports.

Coronaviruses are a vast family of viruses causing respiratory illnesses starting from the common cold to more complicated diseases which include Middle East respiratory syndrome (Mers) and severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars).

Meanwhile, Xinhua said that the Shanghai East Hospital of Tongji University had urgently accepted a venture for the improvement of a vaccine concentrated on the novel virus.

The vaccine might be co-advanced by the health center and Stemirna Therapeutics, a Shanghai-based totally biotechnology company.

No more than 40 days would be needed to manufacture vaccine samples, according to Company CEO Li Hangwen. The samples would then be sent for tests brought to clinics as soon as possible.