Many people today pin hopes on developing a vaccine for the Covid-19 pandemic, as it is the fast path to a return to normalcy, and countries are racing to support research, and expect experimental and manufacturing deals in laboratory research, but part of the scientific trend today is starting to look at it in a different way .. What if not Is the vaccine "Corona" is the solution to control the virus?
Why might the vaccine fail?
Vaccines are simple in principle but complex in practice, the ideal vaccine protects against infection, prevents the spread of the virus, and does so safely, but none of this can be easily accomplished, as the schedules for vaccines show, according to the Guardian newspaper.
More than 30 years after scientists isolated the HIV virus, the virus that causes AIDS, there was no vaccine, and the dengue virus was identified in 1943, but only the first vaccine was approved last year, amid fears it made the infection worse In some people, the fastest vaccine ever developed was mumps, and it took four years.
Scientists have worked on coronavirus vaccines before, so they don't start from scratch today, as the coronavirus SARS and Mears caused deaths before, and the vaccine continues to be researched in both, but neither has been signed.
The main concern of coronaviruses is that they do not tend to provoke long-term immunity, and about a quarter of common cold cases occur due to human coronaviruses, but the immune response fades so quickly that one can become infected again next year.
Oxford University researchers recently analyzed the blood of patients who recovered from "Covid-19" and found that the levels of "IgG" antibodies that were responsible for long-term immunity were sharply elevated in the first month of infection but then began to decline again.
Scientists at Rockefeller University in New York last week found that most people who recovered from Covid-19 without going to hospital did not develop many of their deadly antibodies against the virus.
In this regard, a veteran researcher in coronaviruses at the University of Iowa, Stanley Perlman, said: "This is particularly challenging. If a natural infection does not give much immunity except when it is a severe infection, what does the vaccine do ?, and if the vaccine is able to provide protection for a period Just a year, the virus will be with us for some time.
The evolution of the virus to other strains
The genetic stability of the virus is also important, as some viruses, such as influenza, mutate so quickly that vaccine developers are forced to release new combinations every year, so the rapid development of HIV is a major reason why there is no vaccine for the disease.
However, until now, the coronary coronavirus appears to be somewhat stable, but it acquires mutations, as do all viruses, and some genetic changes have been monitored in the protein "mutations" that are the basis of most vaccines, and if a large change in protein occurs, the bodies The anti-vaccine produced will be outdated and may not be sufficient to prevent infection in an effective manner.
Scientific laboratories face another challenge to make the vaccine safe, as some vaccines may cause the elimination of a virus and damage to other parts of the body, such as the liver and kidneys.
Different approaches and perhaps more than one vaccine
People working to develop a vaccine to kill Covid-19 rely on more than one approach, one that targets weak viruses, another that focuses on genetic code and approaches focused on recipient cells, which then produce high-protein proteins for the immune system to make antibodies against it.
Ideally, the vaccine will generate high levels of antibodies to eliminate the virus and also "T" cells to destroy infected cells, but today no one knows what kind of immune response is good enough.
"We don't even know if a vaccine can produce an immune response that protects against future infection," says David Heyman, who led the WHO response to the SARS epidemic.
Today, two promising vaccines create hope for a cure, as an American biotechnology company was able to produce a vaccine containing similar levels of antibodies to those in healthy people who recovered from Covid-19, and it was tested on 25 people.
Another vaccine from the University of Oxford did not prevent monkeys from contracting the virus, but it appears to have prevented pneumonia, a leading cause of death in coronavirus patients.
If humans react in the same way, the vaccinated people will still be able to spread the virus, but they are unlikely to die from it.
Researchers suggest that we will end up with one or several vaccines, which are only partially effective.
Does the virus remain?
According to experts, the simple answer is yes. Hopes for the virus will start with a vaccine, but they do not end there.
"It will remain difficult to overcome the virus with a vaccine that will last for years," says a researcher who led the WHO smallpox eradication program, Larry Brilliant, and if the vaccine managed to provide protection for only one year, Covid-19 would become endemic.
Also, providing vaccines in large quantities to all societies in the world will be a challenge in the process of eliminating the virus that will continue to spread.
How will we live with the virus?
Changing the shape of life People will have to adapt by maintaining hand washing, physical spacing and avoiding gatherings, especially indoors and wearing masks.
In restaurants, tables must be kept apart from each other and staff will follow strict rules to prevent the spread of the virus
The broader point is to raise awareness of good practices in the workplace, schools and transportation.