Virologist looks at chances of a covid-19 vaccine

richard.youle@walesonline.co.uk

A RACE is speeding up in laboratories around the world to create a coronavirus vaccine to prevent deaths and kick-start the economy.

Virology expert Dr Rich Stanton, of Cardiff University, said he was “cautiously hopeful”.

But he said the process from beginning to end normally took 10 to 20 years.

“The fastest vaccine to be made, I think, took five years,” he said.

This could potentially be compressed into 18 months, he said, if everything fell into place.

“If any one of those things doesn’t happen, then the timescale gets pushed back,” said Dr Stanton.

“Unfortunately, the only way to know work is to try it and see.”

A team at Oxford University – now backed by UK Government funding – has started a human trial, and said it hoped a million doses could be if it’ll ready by September. Dr Stanton said around 70 potential coronavirus vaccines were being trialled around the world.

“There is a huge amount of pressure to get this work done effectively and quickly,” he said.

“Science is quite competitive – in a lot of areas there is only a prize for first place.”

He added: “It sounds a horrible thing to say, but it’s a really exciting time for people like me.

“Suddenly the stuff we have been working on for years has been thrust into the spotlight.

“I think people will start to understand the value of vaccines – there has been some pushback in recent years.

“Viruses are dangerous. Vaccines are a really good way of controlling them, and making a huge difference to our quality of life.”

The 43-year-old reader in virology said there were two parts to your immune system – innate and adaptive.

“The innate part is the first part,” he explained. “The minute you’re infected, it recognises something is wrong.

“The adaptive part is much more specific. It’s saying, ‘This is what the virus looks like and this is how we will control it.’

“Between 10 days to a few weeks later it will generate a response.”