Covid-19: How long until we can expect a vaccine?

AS South Africa – and the world – awaits a Covid-19 vaccine, the process of manufacturing and approving vaccines has come under the spotlight.

Scientists across the globe are working on developing an effective vaccination quickly, but the reality is a vaccine could take a year or two to develop.

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While stories about existent vaccinations and treatments abound, no fully-tested Covid-19 treatment has been released to market as yet.

Medical authorities
Locally, the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) regulates all medical products under the Medicines and Related Substances Act.

Without SAHPRA registration, a health product cannot be prescribed, sold or even advertised.

Safura Abdool Karim – senior researcher and public health lawyer at the Wits University School of Public Health, and the South African Medical

Research Council’s Centre for Health Economics and Decision Science – explained that SAHPRA does not run clinical trials, but rather reviews and approves trials designed by drug manufacturers.

Vaccine trial process
Clinical trials involve multiple phases in which a product is tested on increasingly larger groups of people.

Human trials test for safety, as well as assessing the effectiveness of a drug, and determining any potential side-effects.

This could include isolating groups of people who are high risk, or who might not benefit from the treatment.
– Phase 1 trials: The initial trials are conducted on a small group of people.
– Phase 2 trials: These expand the number and range of people within the trial.
– Phase 3 trials: These conduct tests on a very large group of people before the drug is approved and registered.
– Phase 4 trials: These continue to monitor products after they have been registered. This monitoring phase is ongoing, with no set duration.

How close is the Covid-19 vaccine?
Owing to the various phases within human trials, the production of medication or vaccination can be a lengthy process, often taking years to develop.

“From a clinical trial to the product on the shelf, you’re looking at about three to five years,” explained Karim.

While the development of a Covid-19 vaccination has been expedited by scientists advocating the sharing of research data, the process is still arduous.

One American company, whose Covid-19 vaccine has generated a great deal of interest, estimates that the phase 3 trials would only be completed by October 2022.

Phase 3 of a similar trial being conducted in South Africa is estimated to be concluded in December 2021.

SAHPRA has said it would ‘expedite the review’ of any Covid-19 treatments, but it would not alter the clinical trial process in any way.

SAHPRA’s list of registered products, dating back to 1969, can be referred to for confirmation on whether a specific medication or vaccination has been registered.

Source: Africa Check

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