Surely a vaccine may never happen?

[tangochutney]

I keep hearing family/friends saying stuff along the lines of ‘well until they sort out the vaccine’ but I was thinking of all the diseases that have been around forever that they’ve not managed to vaccinate. I’m sure I read they’ve been working on making a vaccination for chlamydia for 50 years with zero success plus so so many other infections and viruses- surely they can’t just work on it for a while and magic one up in a certain timeframe like people seem to think.

Yes lots of conditions have no vaccine -SARs neither...we do also have to not put all our hope on a vaccine. They might also find a medication or other treatment plan.

It's been widely acknowledged by drs from the outset that it was likely to take a long time, if it ever happens. Those who rambled on about this autumn were deluded. Interestingly, Boris tonight really changed his tune and even commented that 18 years on and still no vaccine against SARS. I think they were starting to prepare us.

I have always thought that a treatment would be more likely than a vaccine.

No guarantees of anything in medicine

I’m fed up of people saying this too. There may never be a vaccine! And even if there is one it’s going to take a long time until we know it’s safe. I wouldn’t have a vaccine that’s been rushed through in a couple of months!

Yes...although the effort and resources looking into a vaccine is off the scale of anything ever seen before. Cooperation not just internationally but by rival pharma giants has to make a massive difference. I mean how much effort...in terms of man hours or whatever...has gone into the chlamydia vaccine or whatever, versus the resources of pretty much anyone who knows anything about vaccine development the world over now working on this.

I’m not head in the clouds delusional and I’m not chasing my GP surgery to book an appointment just yet...but I think there’s reason to remain cautiously optimistic that it’s on the cards.

Theres no vaccine for sars because they stopped researching it then it died out. Alot of things could have vaccines there just isn't enough demand for them to bother.

What imausernamenotanumber said.

Given that people who have already worked on vaccines for other coronaviruses think they can do it, I am inclined to be optimistic.

Boris has to make sure people don't think that putting our lives on hold while we wait for the vaccine is an option. It doesn't mean he secretly knows it is impossible to make one!

@imausernamenotanumber’s post basically.

Plan for the worst, hope for the best.

I think it is incredibly likely there will be a vaccine. The Oxford team had developed a vaccine for MERS which is in clinical trials in the Middle East. They have repurposed the technology for COVID 19. It’s already in clinical trials, it’s proved effective in monkeys.

You can never guarantee anything, of course you can’t but with 100 projects and unlimited resources plus several very promising candidates already in trials I think it’s far more likely than not that a vaccine will be found.

If not, we’ll manage.

Oh and to add there are vaccinations for other corona viruses in existence and regular use. Just not for humans.

There’s a chicken and cow vaccine following corona viruses that caused issues with livestock. Humans usually get a bit snotty with a corona type virus so there’s never been such a huge requirement. SARS research is being built on in a way it would never have had the funding or resources to a few months ago.

Those who rambled on about this autumn were deluded
You mean people like Professor Adrian Hill, Professor Andrew Pollard, and Professor Sarah Gilbert? They're expecting to have a million doses of vaccine ready by September www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/oxford-university-coronavirus-vaccine-trial-update/

I doubt they will have put as much money and research into things like a chlamydia vaccine as that is easily treatable with antibiotics.

We may never find a vaccine of course, but the effort going into developing one is like nothing we've ever seen before.

I have always thought that a treatment would be more likely than a vaccine.

I'm also in the don't hold your breath for a vaccine catagorys. But I think a vaccine is more likey than a treatment.

We don't actually have effective treatments for viruses. If you get pneumonia from a viral infection, the majority of the time all they can't do is support your body and hope your immune system wins. So I doubt we'll get an effective treatment for this.

I think a lot of people really over estimate how much medical science can actually do. A lot of it is just treating symptoms, and quite primative treatment like cut or out of kill it before you kill the host.

Our greatest weapon against covid is our own immune systems.

We have very effective treatments for HIV. I’m very hopeful that we will end up with both.

feelingverylazytoday

I don't care who they are. Everyone knows that a vaccine will not be here by autumn.

@Hearhoovesthinkzebras

Ah yes, the old ‘let’s ignore the experts’.

CaliforniaMountainSnake

But they are looking at drugs now that disrupt the virus' ability to infect cells or to replicate. An HIV drug is currently looking promising as well as losartin.

Isn't there at least one in human trials in the UK already? It was quick because they could piggyback it onto the SARs research.
If it is effective or not, is, of course, a separate question.

We don't actually have effective treatments for viruses.

We do for HIV though?

Redolent

I will ignore them, yes. I've yet to hear any independent expert agree that a vaccine will be available by autumn. In fact, hardly any think we will have one by next year. All I'm hearing drs say is that it's likely years away and the quickest we've ever developed a vaccine before now is four years so I'm listening to them.

I will ignore them, yes. I've yet to hear any independent expert agree that a vaccine will be available by autumn. In fact, hardly any think we will have one by next year. All I'm hearing drs say is that it's likely years away and the quickest we've ever developed a vaccine before now is four years so I'm listening to them.

But we've already developed one which is in human trials. Of course, we don't yet know it's effective, but it's been developed much quicker than four years (albeit piggybacked onto some research for one for SARs), so there is your first factual error.

I’ sure we’ll have both at some point in the future / but we need to get back to some semblance of normality in the meantime - money to pay for all the things we need including the NHS needs to be collected from taxes. We can’t all just stay in for the next few years.

And no guarantee everyone will take it, so we'll still rely on herd immunity through infection

If the last time the entire scientific community of the world concentrated and collaborated on a vaccine for the same disease with unlimited resources at their disposal it took 4 years then fair enough. But this level of scale, collaboration and funding is unprecedented. The old rules don’t apply to this.

Do you ever get the feeling that some people listen to and spout the agenda that goes with their own beliefs and ignore totally the stuff that doesn't? For no good reason?