Is there a Covid 19 vaccination?

We are currently faced by a situation that has created an uproar in the world. Our economic systems are shifting and the our state of survival has never been so eminent. With this paradigm playing out our societies are driven to their most basic adrenaline drives of fight or flight.

We are fighting with all our might to live on and make our dreams come true. With this consciousness to bring us back to a state of ease prevention methods like social distancing, washing your hands, staying home are currently being practiced, both for the safety of ourselves and the people around us.

Be that as it may the inevitable is bound to happen since there is a growing number of infected people every day. This triggers the need for a solution through vaccination. So let's explore what's currently being done.

Vaccines have been produced against several diseases caused by corona viruses for animal use, including for infectious bronchitis virus in birds, canine coronavirus and feline coronavirus.

 Many organizations are using published genomes to develop possible vaccines against SARS-CoV-2.

Five hundred clinical studies worldwide, across all stages of development on vaccine and therapeutic candidates for COVID-19, are registered with the World Health Organization Clinical Trial Registry, as of March 2020.

Timeline of preclinical research

• Around 24 January 2020 in Australia, the University of Queens land announced that it is investigating the potential of a molecular clamp vaccine that would genetically modify viral proteins in order to stimulate an immune reaction.
• Around 24 January 2020, the International Vaccine Centre (VIDO-InterVac) at the University of Saskatchewan announced the commencement of work on a vaccine, aiming to start human testing in 2021.
• Vaccine development efforts were announced at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, and the University of Hong Kong.
• Around 29 January 2020, Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies, led by Hanneke Schuitemaker, announced that it had begun work on developing a vaccine. Janssen is co-developing an oral vaccine with its biotechnology partner, Vaxart.
• On 18 March 2020, Emergent Bio Solutions announced a manufacturing partnership with Vaxart to develop the vaccine.
• On 8 February 2020, the laboratory OncoGen in Romania published a paper on the design of an vaccine-design with a similar technology like the one used for cancer neoantigen vaccination therapy" against COVID-19.
•  On 25 March the head of the research institute announced that they finalized the synthesis of the vaccine and that they were beginning the tests.
• On 27 February 2020, a Generex subsidiary company, NuGenerex Immuno-Oncology announces they were beginning a vaccine project to create an Ii-Key peptide vaccine against COVID-19. They wanted to produce a vaccine candidate that could be tested in humans "within 90 days."
• Washington University in St. Louis announced its efforts to develop a vaccine on 5 March 2020.
• On 5 March 2020, the United States Army Medical Research and Materiel Command at Fort Detrick and the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in Silver Spring, both in western Maryland, announced they were working on a vaccine.
• Emergent Biosolutions announced that it had teamed with Novavax Inc. in the development and manufacture of a vaccine. The partners further announced plans for preclinical testing and a Phase I clinical trial by July 2020.
• On 12 March 2020, India's Health Ministry announced they are working with 11 isolates and that even on a fast track it would take at least around one-and-a-half to two years to develop a vaccine.
• On 12 March 2020, Medicago, a biotechnology company in Quebec City, Quebec, reported development of a coronavirus virus-like particle under partial funding from the Canadian Institutes for Health Research. The vaccine candidate is in laboratory research, with human testing planned for July or August 2020.
• On 16 March 2020, the European Commission offered an €80 million investment in CureVac, a German biotechnology company, to develop a mRNA vaccine. Earlier that week, The Guardian had reported the US President Donald Trump offered CureVac "'large sums of money' for exclusive access to a Covid-19 vaccine", with the German government contesting this effort.
• On 17 March 2020, American pharmaceutical company announced a partnership with German company BioNTech to jointly develop a RNA-based vaccine. RNA-based vaccine candidate BNT162, currently in pre-clinical testing with clinical trials expected to begin in April 2020.
• In Italy on 17 March 2020, Takis Biotech, an Italian biotech company announced they will have pre-clinical testing results in April 2020 and their final vaccine candidate could begin human ?testing by fall.
• In France on 19 March 2020, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) announced a US$4.9 million investment in a COVID-19 vaccine research consortium involving the Institut Pasteur, Themis Bioscience (Vienna, Austria), and the University of Pittsburgh, bringing CEPI's total investment in COVID-19 vaccine development to US$29 million.
•  CEPI's other investment partners for COVID-19 vaccine development are Moderna, Curevac, Inovio, Novavax, the University of Hong Kong, the University of Oxford, and the University of Queensland.
• On 20 March 2020, Russian health officials announced that scientists have began animal testing of six different vaccine candidates.
• Imperial College London researchers announced on 20 March 2020 that they are developing a self-amplifying RNA vaccine for COVID-19. The vaccine candidate was developed within 14 days of receiving the sequence from China.
• In late March, the Canadian government announced C$275 million in funding for 96 research projects on medical countermeasures against COVID-19, including numerous vaccine candidates at Canadian companies and universities, such as the Medicago and University of Saskatchewan initiatives.
• Around the same time, the Canadian government announced C$192 million specifically for developing a COVID-19 vaccine, with plans to establish a national "vaccine bank" of several new vaccines that could be used if another corona virus outbreak occurs.
• In Ethiopia Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Innovation and Technology said "a domestic treatment drug" is being developed by traditional medicine experts in the country. According to the minister, the laboratory research phase of the project is completed. The drug is hoped to cure patients by boosting their immune system and has proven to be free of toxins.

With this efforts in progress there is still a demand in the society because of the growing number of individuals affected by the corona virus. Using this as an opportunity to get rich quick there are certain portals claiming they are in possession of vaccines that have not yet gone through the official channels of testing. It would serve as to be mindful of this kinds of operation to prevent getting involved and investing on so called solutions that could actually cause more trouble than they are worth. Staying informed on all the channels and identifying what actually works will help us get through this.