Scientists Search for Coronavirus Vaccines

As of April 14, there were 632,220 cases of coronavirus (COVID-19) in the United States. COVID-19 first appeared in the United States on Jan. 21, and it took a few months for the virus to escalate. By the middle of March, it had reached pandemic proportions and people were quarantined to decrease the spread. The virus is spread through droplets generated when one coughs or sneezes. To prevent the spread of the virus, one should wear a mask and always be six feet away from others. Other precautions include constantly washing your hands and cleaning/disinfecting surfaces and frequently used appliances. Other than prevention, there are no known proven treatments or vaccines for the virus at this time.

Experimental treatments are being developed but they are not yet in widespread use since there is not enough evidence to prove their effectiveness. One particular medication that is being investigated is Remdesivir, an antiviral treatment. Remdesivir was tested on a small group of people at the University of Chicago. These people had severe symptoms, including respiratory issues and fevers, and were admitted to the hospital for the severity of their illness. The improvement rate was high for the people tested, however there was no control group. There is very little information and very few research studies surrounding this medication. The only known side effect for patients who took Remdesivir while having COVID-19 was an increase in liver enzymes. Remdesivir is not yet approved for widespread use by the Food and Drug Administration, however.

People can have different forms of the virus ranging from mild, which one would not need to be hospitalized for, to severe, which they would need to be hospitalized for. Doctors are giving those who are severely sick from COVID-19 ventilators to help them breathe if they are having severe respiratory problems. Those that are hospitalized but not sick enough for ventilators are receiving medication and plenty of fluids. For people with a mild version of COVID-19 that are not hospitalized, they should treat COVID-19 as if it is the flu, making an effort to get enough rest and drink plenty of fluids. These are the safest forms of treatments that are known to be working right now.

Not only are experimental treatments in the works, but so are vaccines. One vaccine in particular, mRNA-1273, is unlike any other vaccine as it carries a copy of the genetic code of the virus, not a weakened version, which is what most vaccines contain. One trial run of the mRNA-1273 is being funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which is a part of the National Institute of Health (N.I.H). The other trial run is funded by the company Moderna Inc., which actually produced the vaccine and plans to send it to the N.I.H. for further testing. The tests are being run at Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute in Seattle. Only healthy people are being tested and scientists are testing various amounts of doses on them to generate an immune response; the results from this trial will not be apparent for a couple of years. The vaccine was produced quickly because there have been other forms of the SARS-CoV-2 made in the past.

The name for coronavirus is derived from the crown-like spikes on its surface. There are a total of four sub-groupings of coronavirus including Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta. There are seven forms of coronavirus that can infect humans, including 229E (alpha), NL63 (alpha), OC43 (beta), HKU1 (beta), MERS-CoV (beta), SARS-CoV (beta) and SARS-CoV-2. Since there is no proven treatment or vaccine to any of them, the best thing people can do right now is self-isolate.