Corona pandemic – when will the vaccine finally come? Comps

Hopes are high for a vaccine against the emerging corona virus in the near future, as we are weeks away from the end of the year, a date that many experts have drawn as a possible date for developing the vaccine. Where did the efforts in this regard come, according to German experts. Recently, European countries one after the other announced new strict restrictions to confront the emerging corona virus that continues to spread in the old continent, restrictions that ranged from complete closure in France and Britain to partial isolation in Germany and Portugal, to Night curfews, for example, are banned in Italy. Europe has the fastest outbreak of the virus. More than 11 million infections have been counted, half of which are distributed between France, Spain, Britain and Russia, and the pandemic has also claimed the lives of at least 1.2 million people in the world. The German Robert Koch Institute announced a record level in the number of new infections, with a number of 20,000 cases per day, in what resembles a second wave of the pandemic. When will the vaccine come?

There are currently more than 42 potential vaccines under research around the world, and everyone is waiting anxiously for a vaccine against Corona and as soon as possible. In Britain, the first vaccinations will be delivered to hospitals soon. In Germany, there are research and tests in the same direction. Each vaccine must pass through several stages before being licensed for use, as it is tested on a very small group in a first stage, and in a second stage the number reaches 500 people. As for the third phase, it includes at least 10 thousand people. The German website RTL (November 3, 2020) wrote that “Klaus Sischottk of the Paul Ehrlich Institute, the German Federal Institute for Vaccines, expects that Germany will make a decision about whether to approve a vaccine in 2021.”

Germany – Indicators of the success of the “Curvac” experiments against Corona

The company Curevac in Tübingen, which is developing a vaccine, has confirmed that it has achieved positive results for the first phase of a vaccine against the Covid 19 virus. It stated that the vaccine in question is well tolerated and shows strong antibodies that activate cells of the immune system. More than 250 healthy volunteers between the ages of 18 and 60 participated in the phase 1 clinical trial. Several study participants were vaccinated by intramuscular injection of the vaccine at escalating dose levels from 2 to 12 micrograms between day one and day 29.

Franz Werner Haas, CEO of Curvac, told the German website DAZ (November 3, 2020) that the results of the first interim phase are very encouraging. Experiences that represent a milestone in the quest to develop a vaccine against Corona. “After additional data testing and discussions with the relevant authorities, we feel confident in our development program and we are committed to start studying approval procedures before the end of 2020,” Haas added.

Oxford University vaccine “promising” early next year

Oxford University hopes to present the results of the last phase of trials of its candidate vaccine to prevent the Covid-19 virus this year, which raises hopes that Britain can start distributing a successful vaccine in late December or early 2021. Andrew Pollard, a senior trial researcher said Vaccines in Oxford to British MPs, speaking of presenting the results of the trials this year, “I am optimistic that we can reach this stage before the end of this year.”

Whether the vaccine is likely to be effective during the current year will be determined, after which regulators will carefully review the data and then make a political decision on whether the vaccine can be licensed. It is expected that the vaccine that Oxford and “AstraZeneca” are working on are among the first vaccines produced by a large pharmaceutical company, along with another candidate vaccine for the American “Pfizer” and “Biontech” Germany.

Mass vaccination begins in Russia in 2021

The Russian State Scientific Center for Virus and Biotechnology Research announced that the mass vaccination process for Russian citizens is expected to begin with the “Epivac Corona” vaccine, which is being developed by the Coronavirus Center in 2021. The Director General of the Center, Rinat Maxiotov, said in an interview with a specialized website To follow up on pandemic affairs in Russia, “It is planned to launch a mass vaccination campaign in the year 2021,” according to “Russia Today” channel.

Maxiotov explained that the post-registration tests for the “Epivac Corona” vaccine, which is developed by the “Victor” Center, will begin in November or December of next year, explaining that it will include 40 thousand volunteers and will last for six months. He indicated that the vaccine will be free for Russian citizens, and the vaccination process will come on a voluntary basis. Currently, Russia is considered the first country in the world to register a vaccine against the emerging corona virus, and there are two vaccines at the present time that have been registered in the country. The first is “Sputnik in” and is developed by the “Gamalia” Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology Research, and the second is called “Epivac Corona” and the Center works on Vector government action-oriented virus and biotechnology research.

Israel begins clinical trials of the Corona vaccine

For its part, Israel began clinical trials of the Corona vaccine. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu commissioned the Israeli Institute for Biological Research to develop the vaccine. The final stage of testing is scheduled to be reached in April or May. The Israeli vaccine is considered one of the vaccines that are being tested worldwide, according to the World Health Organization.

Ten vaccines have reached advanced stages, as the effectiveness of the vaccine is measured on a large scale by tens of thousands of volunteers. Israel’s trial of the vaccine coincided with the easing of the restrictions of the second comprehensive closure since the outbreak of the Coronavirus, as primary school students were allowed to return to school. During the closure, the number of injuries in Israel decreased to less than a thousand injuries per day. Israel has counted more than 314,000 cases of the virus, of which 2541 have died.

A new study: influenza vaccination also protects against corona

Researchers from Radboud University in Nijmegen in the Netherlands and Heinrich Heine University in Dusseldorf, Germany, have confirmed that the flu vaccine may also protect against the Corona virus. The German website Air IL reported on (4 November 2020) that “the medical data of 10,600 employees of the Radboud University Hospital were examined. And 184 clinic employees tested positive for coronavirus by June 2020. Those who had been previously vaccinated against influenza were then examined. The result was that the incidence of corona in those who were not vaccinated against influenza was 2.23 percent, while among those who were vaccinated it did not exceed 1.33 percent only. This means reducing the risk by 39 per cent.

The site said that the influenza vaccine creates “trained” immunity, and this applies not only to infection with the influenza virus, but also to other pathogens. In the case of the Coronavirus, this may mean that immune cells trained by the flu vaccine interact with a so-called “cytokine response” more strongly than untrained cells.

Doctors talk about “cross-immunity”, meaning that the flu vaccine causes the body’s defenses not only to fight influenza but also corona viruses more effectively. According to the researchers, more research must now be pursued to prove the study’s result.

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It is published in collaboration between Alcombs and DW