코로나백신, 빠른 시일 내에 개발부터 접종까지... 과학의 승리인가
Developing a vaccine usually takes 10 to 15 years.
The fastest it was ever done was for mumps, which was completed in 1967... after four years.
COVID-19 took only a matter of months.
Choi Won-jong talked to a vaccine expert to find out how that was achieved.
The commissioner of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, Jeong Eun-kyeong, met Tuesday... with America's top disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, to share the latest on the development and distribution of vaccines.
Cooperation like this... is what has enabled the world to develop vaccines so fast under never-before-seen pressure.
"It's wrong to frame it in the way of a competition, it's much more that we need to all be working together to roll back vaccines out and get them into people's arms.
Another vaccine expert in Seoul said this unprecedented speed... could not have been achieved without global interest and funding.
"I guess funding. Interest results in funding. It was a huge funding available for international organizations... U.S. government put out Operation Warp speed to really fasten the vaccine development putting a lot of money into their investments."
Also, a vaccine cannot be developed in a vaccum. It needs to be tested in an ongoing outbreak.
The vaccines made by Pfizer and Moderna... use the mRNA platform, a first for an approved human vaccine.
mRNA teaches our cells how to make a harmless fragment of COVID-19 spike protein. The body detects the protein and provides an immune response to fend off the virus.
"We never have approved the vaccine with mRNA platform so that was the biggest concern whether it will [produce] a strong immune response to allow vaccines to have protection against future COVID-19 infection."
However, the key concern that remains... is global vaccine accessibility.
"Having a vaccine and having a vaccination is very different because we need to deliver this vaccine to every corner of the planet and have the people vaccinated."
"When asked whether this year's vaccine development is a victory for science. He said he is cautious about going that far as the pandemic is not yet over, but we are at least on the path to victory and know what we have to do to get there.
Choi Won-jong, Arirang News."
