Researchers at the Galilee Research Institute announced that they are close to creating a vaccine for the Coronavirus: “Developed from poultry diseases.
The search for a vaccine against the Coronavirus could be at a turning point. While the Covid19 emergency continues to spread in Italy and the rest of the world, researchers at the Galilee Research Institute (Migal) in Israel have announced that they are “close to creating a vaccine”. The team is working on a vaccine to be administered orally. The research started with the discovery that the Coronavirus has an infection mechanism very similar to that of the infection affecting poultry. Starting with the medicines that are administered to birds to prevent this disease, therefore, the researchers hope to arrive at a vaccine that will be effective for humans in a short time. According to David Zigdon, CEO MIGAL, the vaccine could “get safety approval in 90 days”. At that point, researchers could perform the first in vivo tests and then start the necessary process for large-scale production.
Coronavirus vaccine: waiting time
The news of the imminent creation of a vaccine against the terrible Coronavirus was also confirmed by the Israeli Minister of Science and Technology Ofir Akunis. As reported in the Jerusalem Post, Akunis has issued a message to congratulate the Migal researchers. “Congratulations on this exciting breakthrough. I am confident that there will be further rapid progress that will enable us to provide a necessary response to the serious global COVID-19 threat,” said Akunis. Meanwhile, researchers and doctors around the world are working to try to develop a cure or at least contain the effects of the Coronavirus. In China, a research team funded by e-commerce giant Alibaba has developed an algorithm that uses artificial intelligence to diagnose coronavirus infection in just 20 seconds. In Italy, researchers at Spallanzani in Rome were the first to isolate the virus and have been searching for a vaccine ever since. Waiting times, however, could be long: according to the OMS, on average it takes 1-2 years to reach the final stage of development and marketing of a vaccine.