One Lakh Infected, How Many Cured? Vaccine Trials On The Horizon

The novel coronavirus or COVID-19-infected cases crossed the one lakh mark on Friday bringing the total to 102,235 globally, spread across at least 82 countries. The number of people dead from the virus stands at 3,497. The good news is that 57,622 people have recovered from the virus.

The maximum number of cases outside China is in South Korea (6,767) followed by Iran (4,747) and Italy (4,636).

One US biotech company Moderna Therapeutics has begun recruiting individuals for human trial of a vaccine that have been developed for COVID-19. 45 healthy adults between 18 and 55 are being recruited for the trial that is expected to take place end of April.

Unlike traditional vaccines, this one doesn’t contain the virus that triggers COVID-19. It doesn’t use a weak or dead virus as its base. It has a short segment of genetic material called messenger RNA, or mRNA, generated in a laboratory. In a typical cell, mRNA encodes instructions for building different proteins.

The artificial mRNA prompts cells to build a protein found on the surface of the virus, according to the Kaiser Permanente report. A person’s immune system should react to this new protein by building up an arsenal of antibodies that target and latch onto this protein, tagging the virus for elimination. Then, the mRNA should break down and be eliminated by the body, leaving the vaccinated person better prepared to fight off the COVID-19 virus named SARS-CoV-2, should they ever encounter it.