COVID-19 Vaccines and Treatment Progressing, But Long Way from Widely Available – Chapelboro.com

Many of us are well-aware of the everyday tactics of battling the coronavirus: wearing masks, washing our hands and staying six feet apart from others. But what are the recent developments in the medical world in terms of treatment or prevention?

Health experts and economists report the United States may not return to life before COVID-19 until a vaccine is widely available. While The New York Times reports more than 140 potential vaccines are in development, none have yet to be approved for use.

Dr. Charlie Monteiro serves on the board of the Durham-Orange County Medical Society and is the former president of the North Carolina Medical Society. In a recent interview with 97.9 The Hills Aaron Keck, Monteiro said the development process is moving very quickly compared to normal and said he thinks its going better than expected.

Vaccine development or any new drug or treatment development has to go through various phases to determine whether it works and is safe, Monteiro said. Then, it gets compared to whatever the standard treatment is to determine if its acceptable to be approved. The vaccine research is getting into the third phase and thats the last phase before it gets approved. Thats very exciting.

One popular option discussed in the absence of a vaccine has been developing antibodies, which happens when someone recovers from COVID-19 and their body has developed a way to combat it. Monteiro said there have been some cases where a serum is made with a persons antibodies to treat severely ill coronavirus patients. But he said he thinks the methods of either administering or everyone naturally developing antibodies to the coronavirus are unlikely to be what solves the pandemic.

The antibody test has been a disappointment, from my experience, said Monteiro. Ive tested a number of patients who were proven positive and Ive only had one come back positive with antibodies. That patient had been severely ill and hospitalized. I think the false negative rate for the antibody test is very high and, unfortunately, not good enough.

In the meantime, Monteiro said strides have been made regarding drug treatment for patients who have the coronavirus. For the most severe cases, he said a drug developed at UNC has seen success.

Theres an antiviral drug called remdesivir, said Monteiro, which has demonstrated to be beneficial for very severely ill patients who are in the intensive care unit. [When a patients] oxygen levels are below 94 percent oxygen saturation, those are the indicators to use [remdesivir] and its been demonstrated to be helpful.

Monteiro also said recently-published research from the United Kingdom showed progress with using an anti-inflammatory steroid to combat COVID-19.

We found out that dexamethasone, a very inexpensive, powerful oral or IV steroid, has been effective in treating very sick patients, he described.

Whenever a vaccine ultimately comes out, theres likely to be challenges making it widely available.

Who does Monteiro think it should go to first?

I think along the front lines for those who are most at-risk he said, and of course all of our frontline workers who have [already] been exposed. I think its going to be [given] there first, for sure.

For daily updates of COVID-19 cases in Orange and Chatham Counties, as well as across North Carolina, visit Chapelboros coronavirus tracker web page.

Photo viaAP Photo/Brian Inganga.

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COVID-19 Vaccines and Treatment Progressing, But Long Way from Widely Available - Chapelboro.com