Vaccines are some of the most groundbreaking inventions in the healthcare industry. Whether or not one subscribes to the notion of using a vaccine, there is still more than enough evidence that they have made modern-day living safer. Not only are they tested intensively to ensure their maximum safety, but there have been multiple attempts to create vaccines that have failed due to even the most minor side-effects.
These medicines are tested vigorously to see if they work as they are intended to, and developing them is a very expensive endeavor that is also time-consuming. This has led to so many promising vaccination treatment formulas to fail to pull through the process and become available to the public. Some of the vaccines we know today were in development for years before being deemed ready for use!
The COVID-19 Vaccine
While the whole process of creating a vaccine is extremely arduous, the advancements in medical technology have made experts hopeful about the COVID-19 vaccine. Health and medical news believe that it may even be available by the end of 2020, giving everyone hope that things may soon return to normal. For now, the world’s top scientists have been working non-stop to be at the top of the race in developing the vaccine that will cure the effects of the coronavirus.
However, others believe that the vaccine for COVID-19 is still a long way to go because of what they know about the strenuous process of creating one. As time goes on, it is only right to take precautionary measures to ensure that safety is a priority while the experts work on saving the world.
The Process Of Creating A New Drug
Drugs made for human health are not very easy to formulate, which is why they go through a rigorous testing procedure to ensure that no side-effects exist that can affect daily life. Drug formulations for pharmaceuticals go through four phases of testing, namely:
Phase I
The goal of the primary phase is to assess the vaccine’s safety by analyzing its side-effects. This is normally done with the help of a small group of people healthy enough to test the product without too many deviations or outliers.
Phase II
This phase determines the maximum dose that can be tolerated without fatalities or damages to the body, as well as scheduling of dosing and the responsiveness of the immune system. The researchers then bump up the population for testing to a hundred or a few hundred more.
This is the phase where many drugs and vaccines fail to continue, but if they pass this phase, Phase III is the next one that needs to be overcome.
Phase III
Phase III is when the process begins to approach mass testing, usually with thousands or more subjects. Some of the people included in the testing group are those who are patients at risk and those with weaker immune systems to check effects further.
Phase IV
Phase IV further tests the treatment’s safety and effectiveness using additional populations, such as children and pregnant women to view the full range of effectiveness. Then, an added variable is used to double-check, which is through the use of an inactive placebo ingredient randomly administered with a therapeutic agent for others.
Will The COVID-19 Vaccine Really Take Longer Than This Year?
Because of the safety implications of rushing a vaccine to cure a major virus, it’s common to experience issues during testing, as there may be problems with the equipment or science being used. Pharmaceuticals have to be rigorously tested to ensure that there are no adverse effects that can be life-changing or further damaging.
Additionally, vaccines must be able to treat ALL groups of people and not just a select few, so finding the right composition and mix of chemicals to treat an illness for all is quite difficult. What is applicable to men and women must also be applicable to children and all other people.
Conclusion
With the new developments in technology and a better overall understanding of the way viruses work, it could be possible for a vaccine for COVID-19 to surface by this year or early next year. For now, the focus is on maintaining health, keeping safe at home, and sanitizing well.
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