\"Vaccines take time to develop years, if not decades. But, due to the urgency of the pandemic, the timetable is being shortened.\"Getty<\/p>\n
A COVID-19 vaccine may not be available in Ireland for another year and a half, experts have warned.<\/p>\n
The Irish Pharmaceutical Healthcare Association (IPHA) noted that while progress is being made, it could be as late as October 2021 before a vaccine is developed, tested, approved, and manufactured.<\/p>\n
The IPHA said, Vaccines take time to develop years, if not decades. But, due to the urgency of the pandemic, the timetable is being shortened. <\/p>\n
But scientists know that there can be no short-cuts on the testing needed to ensure a vaccine, or a treatment, is safe and effective.<\/p>\n
Read more:Irish scientist leads Oxford COVID-19 vaccine drive considered most promising<\/p>\n
Several medicines to treat the virus are already in various stages of development while some are even in the late phase of clinical trials.<\/p>\n
Ultimately the IPHA said a vaccine is the only way to effectively protect the worlds population against any further waves of the deadly coronavirus.<\/p>\n
Ireland, like many nations around the world, is contributing to the development of a vaccine or treatment, with figures in the pharmaceutical industry working in partnership with government officials, academics, health authorities, patient advocacy groups, and charities in a coordinated response.<\/p>\n
Jon Barbour, director of Medical Affairs with pharmaceutical giant GSK Ireland, said, The great challenge in the Covid-19 pandemic is to develop an effective vaccine quickly.<\/p>\n
The good news is that this is the first time in history that there has been such a concerted global effort and collaboration between pharmaceutical companies and research organizations to find a specific vaccine.<\/p>\n
According to the latest data from the World Health Organization, there are three vaccine candidates in clinical evaluation and at least 67 vaccine candidates in preclinical evaluation globally.<\/p>\n
GSK is currently collaborating with fellow pharmaceutical firm Sanofi on an adjuvanted Covid-19 vaccine designed to promote a better immune response to the virus.<\/p>\n
Read more:New drug effective against COVID-19 clinical trial shows<\/p>\n
Adjuvants can also reduce the amount of a virus required to produce a vaccine. <\/p>\n
However, Barbour warned that vaccine development is a lengthy, complex process and there are no shortcuts.<\/p>\n
Once a vaccine has come through the clinical trial process, the next challenge will be scaling up manufacturing to produce millions of doses which will require a partnership approach between pharmaceutical manufacturers that have the expertise and resources to produce vaccines to meet global need, he said.<\/p>\n
Despite his calls for patience, several other potential vaccines are already heading towards clinical trials.<\/p>\n
Johnson & Johnson is to begin human clinical trials on a vaccine this September, with a view to have a several batches available for emergency uses as early as next year.<\/p>\n
Pfizer is also Germanys BioNTech to co-develop a potential vaccine while the British American Tobacco Company is also working on a possible solution.<\/p>\n
The most advanced effort is taking place at the University of Oxford, where the first human trials for a Covid-19 vaccine began last week.<\/p>\n
Professor Adrian Hill, an Irish scientist who has worked on Ebola and malaria vaccines, is heading up the Oxford University Covid-19 vaccine effort which The New York Times says is currently the leader in the search for a workable vaccine.<\/p>\n
In the worldwide race for a vaccine to stop the coronavirus, the laboratory sprinting fastest is at Oxford University, the Times reports.<\/p>\n
Hill and Oxford researchers had already been working on coronavirus type vaccines and just very recently monkey trials showed the Oxford vaccine protected the animals from Covid-19.<\/p>\n
Dublin-born Hill 61, head of the Jenner Institute in Oxford and Professor of Human Genetics developed a fascination with malaria and other tropical diseases as a medical student in Dublin in the early 1980s when he visited an uncle who was a priest working in a hospital during the civil war in what is now Zimbabwe.<\/p>\n
Read more:Irish create 3D printed ventilators to fight COVID-19 pandemic<\/p>\n
\"Vaccines take time to develop years, if not decades. But, due to the urgency of the pandemic, the timetable is being shortened.\"Getty<\/p>\n
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COVID-19 vaccine in Ireland could take a year and a half - IrishCentral<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \"Vaccines take time to develop years, if not decades. But, due to the urgency of the pandemic, the timetable is being shortened.\"Getty A COVID-19 vaccine may not be available in Ireland for another year and a half, experts have warned. The Irish Pharmaceutical Healthcare Association (IPHA) noted that while progress is being made, it could be as late as October 2021 before a vaccine is developed, tested, approved, and manufactured Continue reading