Covid19 Vaccines in Production

I follow Victor Meldrew

It will be such a fantastic achievement if this vaccine is found to be effective, as apparently it usually takes years to develop one.

Maybe we shouldn’t get our hopes up too much, but as I am optimistic by nature, like you Buffybee my hopes are well and truly up!!

I don't believe it! ygddrasil

I was vaccinated with 2 months of the Asian'flu hitting us though I was working at the hospital at the time. There were two vaccinations with a 2/3 week space in between the first and second. That was in 1957.

I can't just remember what the vaccine consisted of but I think it was a mixture of what we now know of Sars/Mers.
What with that and a smallpox and TB jab, my poor arm. A small price to pay though.

Might I add that nothing was known about the Asian 'flu virus either, but you'd have at least thought there'd have been a build-up by scientists to be prepared for the unexpected.

* within* 2 months.

I know how you feel Buffybee. I felt very despondent the other night because I was listening to an American Q&A that was incredibly informative, but they reckoned a vaccine would, at best, take about three years. They were, however more upbeat about the development of anti virals. I was also interested in that comment from someone from the WHO (or he might have been someone who used to work for them: not sure who he was) who said he thought the virus could just disappear. And, even though I’m usually the biggest pessimist in the world, I tended to agree with him. I know of families where every family member bar one caught it which makes me wonder if some people are actually immune in some way. Also, in another American programme, I heard about the use of azathioprine used with zinc and hydroxychloroquine in the early stages of the virus (if one is badly affected that is). We’re finding out more and more about the virus. Going back to the vaccine, though, I know there was talk about developing a universal vaccine for corona virus’s and I assume the Oxford group had been working on that for quite a while which is why they hit the ground running. I’ve also been wondering what is happening about developing new antibiotics, given that many people have needed them as part of their Covid treatment. I don’t think we can totally pin our hopes on a vaccine but it does look promising.

If the WHO still can’t say whether, if you have had a confirmed bout of Covid 19, you have any immunity, it must mean that the possibility of being able to immunise against the virus is still very much up in the air.

I’m optimistic.

Esspee that is what was assumed in March/April, when patients in South Korea, China and Japan were thought to have tested positive twice.
More recently Scientists in South Korea have concluded that people cannot catch Corona Virus twice and the positive results were due to testing failures.
The South Korean centre for Disease Control and Prevention now say it is impossible for Covid19 to reactivate in human bodies.

Well I won’t be rushing to get something that normally takes years to test and produce I think it will be very iffy for a good while and until we have a test to see if we ve had it or not it seems arse about face surely we need the anti body test to see who needs the vaccine before we start injecting all and sundry

Thank you @Buffybee that is reassuring. I believe I caught a very mild dose back in March so hopefully I am now protected.

esspee If the WHO still can’t say whether, if you have had a confirmed bout of Covid 19, you have any immunity, it must mean that the possibility of being able to immunise against the virus is still very much up in the air.
The leading lady from Oxford who is developing the vaccine gave a very informative interview on Andrew Marr a while back. She stated very clearly that the vaccine would immunise longer than catching the illness. As you say, having a bout of the virus does not guarantee lengthy immunisation, but the vaccine will protect for at least a year maybe longer. Even if we have to be be stabbed every year it would so be worth it.

Let’s hope so Esspee ?

I think we are a long way from lining up to get vaccinated at the GP. Quote from the BBC news page on this development: 'However, until human trials have been performed it is impossible to know how the vaccine will perform in people.'

All the monkeys that were tested using the vaccination have all tested positive for the coronavirus.

Because an effective vaccine would be such a life changer, I find I must be very rational about where we are. They are just finishing the Phase 1 stage on about 1000 volunteers aged 18-55. Apparently it’s gone well but that doesn’t mean it’s effective. There is so much more to do - what about older age groups ( who need it most) people with certain relevant underlying conditions ( all the volunteers would have been fully healthy) pregnant women. Also will one shot suffice and for how long? A small group in the volunteers are having two shots 4 weeks apart. As for production, nothing is actually going to be produced until it’s known to work but what has been set up (very sensibly) is the capacity to produce a large volume. We also need to know about having this vaccine as well as the annual flu jab - is that safe ? How far apart? Etc etc. I’m not wanting to rain on anyone’s parade but I just can’t bring myself to get excited about this and then find it doesn’t happen. I do understand though that others might want to have something to hope for

Count me out ! I'd rather take my chances and stay living like a hermit .

As EllanVanin said , the monkeys given the vaccine have all developed CV-19. Does not look promising at all.

Why not use Remdesivir, the drug that was used for ebola ? It cured a premature baby who was born in Hertfordshire. An obvious safe treatment.

Niobe, this was the " supposed " vaccine that came from Oxford.

suziewoozie, what I have read does state that AstraZenica are starting to produce the vaccines, even though the results are not known yet.
If the trial has positive results, we will ‘have dosages to start vaccinating the UK population straight away’
Under the terms of the ‘global licensing agreement’, AstraZenica is to start mass production of the vaccine this summer, before results are due, in case it is found to work.
We are going to have 30m vaccination ready as soon as the results are in.
The first to have them will be NHS workers, Care workers and then vulnerable people if they are able to have the vaccination.
It does sound very promising and I for one will be having it as soon as I can.
All being well....

It's certainly not promising when you have infected monkeys. Good Lord, if it was carried out on the public we'd have the virus back with a vengeance at that rate.

That must have been a different vaccination Ellan, this one developed by Oxford University is being tested right now on 500 people.

I saw a short report on the iPad this morning saying that of a small sample of the people who’d been injected with the Oxford vaccine eight had developed anti-bodies. The trouble is it didn’t say how many were in the sample! If it was eight people, that’s brilliant!