Is too much hope being put into a coronavirus vaccine?

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

It’s a commonly accepted truth that the only way the coronavirus pandemic will come to an end is through the development of an effective vaccine. The effort to accomplish that goal has been underway for months in countries around the world, at a scale and speed that have never been seen before.

There are currently more than 100 potential vaccines in some stage of development, some of which have advanced to human trials. The Trump administration launched “Operation Warp Speed” in May with the goal of having millions of doses available by the end of the year. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, recently said he was “cautiously optimistic” a vaccine could be ready by early 2021.

Experts say the virus will continue to spread until about 70 percent of the population has developed immunity. A vaccine is the quickest and safest way to establish what’s known as “herd immunity.” The other path — waiting until enough people have been infected — could lead to millions of deaths, epidemiologists say.

Despite promising progress on a number of vaccine candidates, there are still significant reasons to be skeptical of the idea that a game-changing vaccine is just a few months away, experts say. Developing a vaccine by the end of the year or even by next summer would shatter the record for the fastest vaccine ever developed, which currently stands at four years. Even if that extraordinary feat is accomplished, drug companies will still need to produce hundreds of millions of doses and distribute them to the people who need them.

https://news.yahoo.com/is-too-much-hope-being-put-into-a-coronavirus-vaccine-192703455.html

[unblock]

1. If natural immunity only lasts a few months, 70% may never really happen

Or it may not last long.

[Wellstone ruled]

3. Plus,most virus's mutate

with environmental changes. We are a long way away form that magic potion .

[old guy]

2. At this point in time, yes.

There are too many variables and too many unknowns.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

4. I do hope we'll have a good vaccine eventually, but probably not before

something is rushed to market in October that makes the whole Swine Flu vaccine fiasco look good.

The possibility that Trump will hype some poorly tested vaccine and loudly encourage people to get it is high. He's still going on about hydrochlorowhatever which is literally worse than nothing.

[Laelth]

5. From what I have read, yes.

Is it a commonly accepted truth or a commonly accepted delusion?



-Laelth

[cos dem]

6. I think a vaccine is our only hope of getting back to "normal".

The herd immunity idea, even if someone were to gain life-long immunity, was always destined to cause way too much death and disease. It appears that immunity may be very short, making herd immunity impossible.

Living with it, as demonstrated by New Zealand and South Korea, among others, shows that even if you get it under control, you can't really go back to anything like normal, or it will just come back.

There is probably an over-expectation that the vaccine will be ready quickly, and that it will magically be produced in the huge quantities necessary to vaccinate the world population. But, eventually, we either need to get an effective vaccine, or life is going to look very different for generations, if not forever.

So, we've got to put everything we have into a vaccine. I'm optimistic we'll get there eventually, but it may take a lot longer than a lot of current expectations.

[Sherman A1]

11. +1

[DSandra]

12. If the virus mutates enough, and people can get reinfected, the only thing we can do...

is to do a massive Europe / China style lockdown for a few months, and control travel into and out of states / countries and to do aggressive small lockdowns at outbreak places for the foreseeable future.

Governments should allow businesses to be in a "suspended" state that would effectively legally hibernate them for the period of the lockdown, and like other countries, governments should pay people to stay at home during the lockdown.

[Baclava]

7. When you're staring down a long dark, bleak tunnel, any light at the end is appreciated

[leftieNanner]

8. But sometimes it's an oncoming train.

I personally don't think we will have an effective vaccine for a while - maybe never. We still don't have one for AIDS.

We may be more likely to see an effective treatment which will mitigate the disease and allow people to recover.

[Baclava]

9. Hope crusher

[leftieNanner]

10. It is I!

Sorry. I REALLY hope I'm wrong!