Across the world, several top pharmaceutical companies are on a race to come up with a vaccine for COVID-19, that has been wreaking havoc around the world.The latest big name to join the race is pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson which has partnered with the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for a COVID-19 vaccine.?
According to the company they have a "lead vaccine candidate" and will begin to be tested on people in clinical studies by September, and if clinical data shows safety and efficacy by the end of 2020, it could become available in less than a year.?
"The company expects to initiate human clinical studies of its lead vaccine candidate at the latest by September 2020 and anticipates the first batches of a COVID-19 vaccine could be available for emergency use authorization in early 2021, a substantially accelerated time frame in comparison to the typical vaccine development process," the statement reads.?
According to the statement, the typical development process can last five to seven years before a potential vaccine is considered for approval.?
"This would ordinarily take about five years, but as we all know these are very different times," CEO Alex Gorsky told Fox News, adding that "We've got a team of scientists literally working around the clock since January."?
Additionally, Johnson & Johnson is working on ensuring the availability of the vaccine by expanding its manufacturing capacity in the US and other countries.?
"The additional capacity will assist in the rapid production of a vaccine and will enable the supply of more than one billion doses of a safe and effective vaccine globally," the statement reads. "The company plans to begin production at risk imminently and is committed to bringing an affordable vaccine to the public on a not-for-profit basis for emergency pandemic use."?
There are already several companies around the world who have made significant progress on the vaccine.Clinical trials to test for the COVID-19 vaccine have kickstarted in the US and the first person who volunteered was a 43-year old mum of two Jennifer Haller from Seattle.
Last week, Moderna Health, another pharmaceutical company working on a vaccine, said that it could have an experimental treatment available to healthcare workers as soon as the fall.?
According to researchers, just one vaccine could be enough as COVID-19 isn¡¯t mutating as quickly as we feared. This means that the vaccine for COVID-19 would immunize patients in the long run, just like chickenpox and measles vaccines.