Scientists in Seattle, USA have begun to recruit participants to test for a coronavirus vaccine, despite skipping one important phase. Animal testing, which is usually a prerequisite for all clinical trials of new drugs.

The coronavirus pandemic, however, is such a serious event that this time it is so time-consuming that the authorities allowed the omission of the usual animal testing and proceeded to the next stage.

Otherwise, it may take 15 to 20 years to develop a vaccine. The lengthy process requires scientists to first administer the vaccine to the animals to determine whether it is safe and effective in preventing the disease. Only after the animal tests have been completed and subsequently modified, can the substance be passed on to human testing.

Testing is running well so far

Time plays a role in this context, so some animal tests are simply not going to take place, although virologists at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in the United States gave the experimental vaccine to laboratory mice on the same day that the human study began accepting the first participants.

These mice exhibited a similar immune response to mice receiving the experimental vaccine for MERS-CoV, a similar type of other coronavirus strain.

However, standard laboratory mice cannot catch a new coronavirus, as is now happening in the human population around the world, and susceptible rodent breeding will take several weeks.

If these preliminary animal experiments prove unsuccessful, concurrent human testing will have to be stopped.
New vaccine

The new vaccine developed by Moderna Therapeutics, a biotechnology company, does not contain the virus that triggers COVID-19, as is common with such vaccines. Scientists used a new technique that would make theoretically engineered mRNA act as an instructor that directs human cells to produce a protein found on the surface of the virus. This protein would theoretically elicit a protective immune response. Standard vaccines work similarly, but use dead or weak virus as a basis.

This method also allowed researchers to accelerate the development process by not having to isolate and modify live SARS-CoV-2 samples.

However, any shortening of vaccine development may not lead to a final saving of time in the real longer term. Despite all their efforts, scientists cannot tell whether their vaccine will work or when it will be available. This may be the earliest in June, or in a year.