There IS always going to be some sort of virus coming at humans…
Dr. Fauci wants the US Government to try and get ahead of the curve…..
In one sense, the world got lucky with the new coronavirus. By sheer chance, scientists just happened to have spent years studying coronaviruses, developing exactly the tools needed to make Covid vaccines as soon as the virus’s genetic sequence was published.
But what will happen if the next pandemic comes from a virus that causes Lassa fever, or from the Sudan strain of Ebola, or from a Nipah virus?
Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, is promoting an ambitious and expensive plan to prepare for such nightmare scenarios. It would cost “a few billion dollars” a year, take five years for the first crop of results and engage a huge cadre of scientists, he said.
The idea is to make “prototype” vaccines to protect against viruses from about 20 families that might spark a new pandemic. Using research tools that proved successful for Covid-19, researchers would uncover the molecular structure of each virus, learn where antibodies must strike it, and how to prod the body into making exactly those antibodies.
“If we get the funding, which I believe we will, it likely will start in 2022,” Dr. Fauci said, adding that he has been promoting the idea “in discussions with the White House and others.”
Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, also thought it likely that the necessary funds would be allocated, calling the project “compelling.”
“As we begin to contemplate a successful end to the Covid-19 pandemic, we must not shift back into complacency,” Dr. Collins said….
There is also a effort to produce a pill that treats the underlying covid family virus’s…
While the focus has been largely on vaccines, PharmAust is trialling a pill that directly targets SARS-CoV-2. Today’s results are the next step towards a human clinical trial.
Following its recent patent application, PharmAust (ASX:PAA) is continuing to make progress on its lead drug monepantel (MPS) to treat viral diseases.
PharmAust announced today that three independent laboratories have finished examining the effects of MPS and metabolite monepantel sulfone (MPLS) on SARS-CoV2 infection, which is the causal agent of COVID-19 disease….