When will the coronavirus vaccine be ready? Everything we know right now – CNET

Experts are hopeful that a vaccine against the SARS-CoV-2 virus will become available sooner rather than later.

Doctors and scientists are scrambling to develop avaccine to stop the coronavirus, which is now responsible forover 250,000 deaths worldwide. It's estimated that the COVID-19 pandemic is expected to ravage society until between 60% and 70% of the world'spopulation is immune.

There are currently more than95 coronavirus vaccines being tested, withseven reportedly already in clinical trials, which means there aremore scientists working harder and faster on finding a vaccine than ever before in the history of pandemics. But even if one of the vaccines now under development turns out to be effective,the FDA approval process typically takes a year or longer.

Keep track of the coronavirus pandemic.

It's still too early to make predictions, but here's what we know so far about the race to develop a coronavirus vaccine that may help usher in an end to the current pandemic.

One more note before we get underway. This article is intended to be a resource to help you understand current coronavirus vaccine research. It isn't intended to serve as medical advice. If you're seeking more information about coronavirus testing,here's how to find a testing sitenear you (and here'sanother way for Apple Mapsusers). Here'show to know if you qualify for a testandwhy there aren't any coronavirus at-home test kitsyet. This story is updated frequently as new information comes to light.

Read more:What it will take for life to return to normal after lockdown ends

A vaccine is a medical treatment that protects you against a disease like the coronavirus. For a deeper dive into how vaccines work, check outthis in-depth coronavirus treatment explainer by CNET's Science Editor Jackson Ryan. But the short and sweet of it is that a vaccine tricks your body into thinking it's already had the disease, so your body's natural defense -- the immune system --builds antibodies against it. Then, if you were to become infected, your body would call upon the antibodies to fight the virus before you feel sick.

Vaccines typically take about10 to 15 years to develop. That's in part because any new medical treatment needs to be thoroughly tested for safety before it can be distributed to millions or billions of people. Themumps vaccine took four years, which is widely considered the fastest vaccine approval in the history of infectious disease.

Read more:Need a pulse oximeter? These models are in stock starting at $24

Now playing: Watch this: Vaccines, antibody tests, treatments: The science of...

6:02

Last week, the White House announced "Operation Warp Speed," a sort of coronavirus vaccine task force that has identified14 vaccine projects it says it will focus on fast-tracking. The project's stated goal is to have300 million doses of vaccineavailable by January 2021. That's a bit faster than the12- to 18-month estimated timeline proposed by the US' top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci.

As of this writing there are97 vaccine projects underway in countries around the world, including the US, UK, Germany, Japan and China. Twelve are either already in clinical trials or starting in the next few months. Out of those 12, Oxford University seems to be leading the pack with a vaccine that researchers saycould be ready by the fall of 2020.

Scientists from around the world are working toward developing a vaccine. So far 12 projects have either started or will soon start clinical trials.

Not great. Only about6% of vaccine candidates ever make it through to market, and not just because they don't work. There's a whole litany of problems that could cancel even a promising candidate. Take, for example, what happened when scientists tried to develop a vaccine for SARS --it backfired and actually made people more susceptible to the disease. Same thing happened with avaccine for Dengue fever. To make matters worse, coronaviruses are a large class of viruses andso far there are no vaccines for any of them.

However, this particular coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, has some unique traits that may help researchers working on a vaccine. For example, some viruses, like the flu, mutate quickly and often, which is why there's a new flu vaccine every year.This coronavirus doesn't seem to do that. Although it's still too early to be completely certain what will happen by the time a vaccine is ready, it's thought that the virus has not yet mutated significantly enough to disrupt vaccine development, nor is it expected to.

Rules and regulations vary by country, but, generally speaking, most industrialized nations have similar protocols for approving a vaccine. The following path is how vaccines are approved in the US under the Food and Drug Administration:

Until there's a vaccine, expect safety precautions like face masks and social distancing to be a part of everyday life.

The longer we go without a vaccine, the more likely focus will shift toward treatments, such as theexperimental antiviral drug remdesivir, which has been showing promising results. Many viruses that used to be fatal are no longer death sentences. Patients with HIV, for example, now can expect to enjoythe same life expectancyas non-HIV-positive individuals, thanks to tremendous advances in treatment.

Without a coronavirus vaccine, the road back to normal may be harder and longer, but not necessarily impossible.Coronavirus testing, includingantibody testing, andcontact tracingefforts would probably need to intensify. Lockdown measures wouldprobably lift slowly, althoughdepending on how people handle itcities and states may bring them back, including requiringface masksandsocial distancing. Eventually, the global population may reach the 60% to 70% rate required forherd immunityto protect those who aren't immune.

See the rest here:

When will the coronavirus vaccine be ready? Everything we know right now - CNET