Don't bet on vaccine to protect us from Covid-19, says world health expert

[DarthDem]

45. There's a bit more to the story than that

There are many reasons why there is no HIV vaccine. Probably the broadest scientific reason is that the virus' very nature attacks the immune system, which therefore (simplifying a bit) complicates many of the traditional ways of developing anti-viral vaccines. Two other scientific problems are that HIV mutates very quickly and it has many, many strains. But the most important reason why there is no HIV vaccine is lack of research and funding on a global scale. There are very sad sociological reasons for this, and ironically the highly effective development of HIV treatments has slowed the search for a vaccine. None of these issues - not one - is present with regard to SARS-CoV-2.

As for SARS-CoV-1 and MERS, the former died out very quickly and the second is extremely rare. That is why there are no vaccines for either, not for lack of trying. No one wanted to fund a vaccine for a nonexistent threat or a very rare one. This was, of course, a severe mistake and yet another reason why we shouldn't have Big Pharma making these sorts of decisions for the entire human population.

SARS-CoV-2 is currently the subject of a worldwide therapy and vaccine search by the entire scientific community. It's a significant contrast.