Israel scientists have made a big announcement about the treatment of coronavirus. Israeli scientists have claimed that a new vaccine they developed for a deadly virus affecting poultry could be adapted for human use as well.
The vaccine work against the novel coronavirus known as 2019-nCoV (and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). This coronavirus causes the disease called COVID-19 which has claimed the lives of over 3,100 people worldwide. It has affected over 91,000 people as of March 3.
Scientists at the MIGAL Research Institute in the northern Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona said that after four years of multi-disciplinary research, they developed a vaccine against IBV (Infectious Bronchitis Virus). It is an avian coronavirus that affects the respiratory tract, gut, kidney and reproductive systems of domestic chickens.
Moreover, IBV is similar to Covid-19 and uses the same mechanism for infection. They made genetic alterations to the IBV vaccine to make it useful to the human strain of the novel coronavirus.
source: nocamel
The announcement has been made by Israel’s Science and Technology Minister, Ofir Akunis.
Speaking to media, Ofir congratulated the scientists of the MIGAL Research Institute for creating a vaccine to ‘save mankind’ from this novel virus. If all goes as planned, the vaccine will be ready in the next few weeks. It can also be available in the market within 90 days, he said.
The team is working towards approvals and testings
Currently, the team is working towards regulatory approvals for in-vivo testing and the initiation of manufacturing.
Furthermore, MIGAL Research Institute CEO David Zigdon said that they are working to provide a vaccine as soon as possible. “Given the urgent global need for a human coronavirus vaccine, we are doing everything we can to accelerate development. Our goal is to produce the vaccine during the next eight to ten weeks and to achieve safety approval in 90 days”.
He further added, “This will be an oral vaccine, making it particularly accessible to the general public. We are currently in intensive discussions with potential partners that can help accelerate the in-human trials phase and expedite the completion of final product development and regulatory activities.”
If Israel came up with the vaccine to cure coronavirus then it will be a game-changer for them. So far, no cure has been identified for this COVID-19 virus.
The U.S. also working on Coronavirus vaccine
Moreover, according to White House coronavirus task force expert Anthony Fauci, a coronavirus vaccine will be ready for testing on humans in a month or so. But, it will take at least a year for it to be safe and ready for the general public.
Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, spoke after touring National Institutes of Health facilities in Maryland with US President Donald Trump.
“I don’t want to over-promise. I said a month and a half the other day; it may be about a month or so. And then very soon, we’ll be sticking the first person with the vaccine,” Fauci told US media.
The internet recently dug up a movie from 2011 called Contagion. According to fan theories, Contagion predicted Coronavirus outbreak, that too in 2011.
