Coronavirus vaccine status: From Moderna's successful trials to China's new "safe" vaccine, here is what we know so far

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01/11COVID-19 infection cases are rising rapidly

In a span of four months, the novel coronavirus pandemic has infected close to 5 million people globally, with Southern America having been declared the newest epicentre of the viral infection.

02/11What is the status of coronavirus vaccine?

There are over 110 prospective projects in works to find a workable cure for SARS-CoV-19 which spread from a wet market in Wuhan in December last year. Some have reached the clinical trial stage, others have shown a little less than favourable results.

03/11When will we have a vaccine ready for COVID-19?

Leading researchers are still saying that it can be another 14-18 months before the world gets to access a vaccine. The same is the case with Indian vaccine, as experts say that it is still in the nascent stage and it will take a while before we see conclusive development.

Vaccines require a lot of crucial studies, phases of trials to test out potential side-effects to test its safety, feasibility and cost. We tell you the current status of all the vaccines which are the leading front runners right now:

04/11Moderna's RNA vaccine

Moderna's RNA vaccine, which is amongst the top frontrunners in the race is set to move into the second phase of the clinical trials in the month of July. The company, which makes use of a novel mRNA sequence fights the infected proteins and carries instructions to the body to deploy neccessary antibodies to fight against the infection. Moderna Inc. has successfully finished stage 1 of the clinical trial, where it has reported promising positive results on atleast 8 candidates who developed protective antibodies against coronavirus.

05/11Chinese CanSino Biologics Inc vaccine

The strongest new contender in the global vaccine race has been touted as the vaccine developed by CanSino Biologics Inc from China. Studies conducted so far have claimed that the vaccine, which has surpassed the human testing phase appeared to be safe. The report which has been tabled is based on a Lancet study which drew observations from an early trial conducted on humans in several laboratories, based on 108 participants aged between 18-60. The vaccine was made with a certain mutation of a virus, named Ad5, which genetically modifies the protein structure once injected inside the cell. Once the body identifies, the virus is able to break down the molecule and stop it from further multiplying. The study also shows that the vaccine injection could possibly help the body's immunity and T-cell production as well.

However, there is still a long way to go for this vaccine to receive green signals, since a lot of side effects during injection have been observed.

06/11China's CanSino vaccine is leading the race

Cansino vaccine, which is developed by a China-based company also became the first of its kind to proceed to the stage 2 of the study and for its preliminary results to get peer reviewed. In the testing done so far, participants who received a single dose of the vaccine produced certain immune cells, called T cells, within two weeks while the antibodies needed for immunity peaked at 28 days.

07/11Oxford University and AstraZeneca Plc vaccine

The joint collaboration between the University of Oxford and pharma giant, AstraZeneca Plc's experimental vaccine was highly looked forward to ever since the trials began in April. The vaccine, which used a weak mutation of the common cold virus, adenovirus has been mixed with the genetic material of the SARS-CoV-2. While the trials began with standardized animal testing, new reports suggest that the vaccine might not be that effective in preventing infection spread and thus, may not be able to stop the spread of the dangerous coronavirus. Despite that, the study is set to move into the second phase of clinical trials, where over 10,200 people between the ages of 5-12 and those over 70 will be enrolled. Post that, plans of involving people over the age of 18 have at a wide-scale have been reported.

08/11ICMR- Bharat Biotech International Limited Vaccine

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and Bharat Biotech International Limited (BBIL) have announced a recent collaboration wherein the isolated coronavirus strain has been characterised in the Institute of Virology, Pune.

Even as the experimental vaccine study has got enough funding, experts suggest that the vaccine, which aims to work by building up the body's immunity in fighting the virus will take a minimum of a year's time.

Apart from this, India's Serum Institute, Indian Immunologicals Limited, Mylab are also speeding up work on the production of a vaccine to match up to global efforts.

09/11Thailand's mRNA vaccine

Thailand, last week (May 22) announced that it has proceeded to test its novelvaccine on monkeys after seeing positive results on mice and hoped to get a clear outcome of its effectiveness by September. The vaccine, which is amongst the 110 contenders uses messenger RNA (mRNA) technology to weaken the viral strain and produce antigens to fight the virus from the root.

10/11Tobacco vaccine

The newest entrant in the race is a leading Tobacco production company, British American Tobacco who announced the making of anexperimental vaccine based on proteins from tobacco leaves. While the vaccine is yet to receive neccessary approval from FDA, workings have shown good pros.

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