Four months into the COVID-19 pandemic and there is still no sign the situation is letting up, not even a bit. At this point where the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) that causes this severe pneumonia-like illness has already infected more than 16 million people in every continent of the globe, the only way we can go out of this crisis is to develop immunity from COVID-19 itself. As we can no longer afford to add more burden to our health sector in taking care of the infected people, we must not let the virus itself find another host.
The only way we can accomplish all of these mentioned is for the global population to achieve herd immunity. This can be achieved if every people in the world has already contacted the virus and has grown immunity from it, something that is very risky and we just cannot afford to happen. The second, and probably the most acceptable solution to all these, is to develop a working vaccine that will make us immune from the virus’ crippling effects.
Per the latest reports, we might be getting close to a COVID-19 vaccine as the German biotech company BioNTech and US-based drug manufacturer Pfizer confirmed that they are now onto the final phase of their study on a potential vaccine.
Coronavirus Vaccine Could Be Approved By October, First Distribution Possible By December
If the final study on this COVID-19 vaccine by BioNTech and Pfizer yields positive results, then the companies can already apply for regulatory approval as early as October this year. Afterwards, they can immediately start with the mass production of the vaccine to supply to all entities who will be needing it. It is projected that up to 100 million doses of the vaccine will be up by December, at the earliest. By the end of 2021, it is expected that up to 1.3 billion doses of the COVID-19 vaccine are made available.
This particular vaccine, if proven to be effective, will be given at two doses for each person to sufficiently provide immunity from COVID-19. This means that the first 100 million doses to be supplied later this year would cater to 50 million people. There is still no news about who will be prioritized to get the first doses of a working coronavirus vaccine. For sure, many people will be clamoring to get the vaccine if one will be made available this year. Your authentic facebook followers might even beat you first into getting a shot of the vaccine.
Hopefully, when the vaccine is already made, we are still standing strong without having to sell our own houses for survival.