LONDON - Scientists are racing to develop universal jab to prevent recurrent coronavirus pandemics.
Sars-CoV-2, the virus responsible for Covid-19, has turned the world upside down. Experts have predicted that it will claim the lives of between nine million and 18 million worldwide. This is in addition to destroying the livelihoods, mental health and education of countless others.
The pandemic will probably wreak havoc for many years to come, despite the remarkable speed of vaccine development. This is not helped by the emergence of new variants sweeping the world, which pose a serious threat to the success of vaccination and upcoming treatments.
It is difficult to predict the future pattern of Sars-CoV-2. Many scientists believe it will continue to circulate in pockets around the globe, meaning that it will become endemic in the same way as flu. In this context, the number of infections remains relatively constant with occasional flare-ups that run the danger of turning into a pandemic. A lot depends on how widely the population around the world can be vaccinated and how long immunity lasts after natural infection or vaccination.
Long term, the best solution would be to develop a universal vaccine - one that would help protect against all current variants of the coronavirus and any others that arise in the future. Without it, the world runs the risk of recurrent pandemics.
Given the difficulties encountered in creating a universal flu vaccine, this may seem a tall order. But a number of scientists believe it is possible based on the rapid development of the Sars-CoV-2 vaccines.
Covid-19 is in fact the third major infectious disease outbreak to have been triggered in the last two decades by a new coronavirus jumping from animals into humans, the other two being Sars and Mers.
To get a sense of how far a pan-coronavirus vaccine has progressed, we spoke to a number of key players in the field. We are both experts in this area but come at it from very different angles – Lara Marks is a historian of medicine with an interest in biotechnology and vaccines, while Ankur Mutreja has experience in tracking outbreaks and developing vaccines for infectious diseases. From our conversations, there appear to be a number of encouraging vaccine candidates on the horizon - it is even possible that one could be developed for use in humans within 12 months.
