While major world economies stand at a brink of collapse with worldwide lockdown and economic growth predicted to be -3%, the World Health Organisation has warned that the worst is yet to come and vaccine might be the the only savior.
With this, scientists around the world are racing to develop COVID-19 vaccine but with little success. As Corona Warriors struggle with time, a promising news comes from Israel- which âclaimsâ to have successfully developed the antidote.
A secretive unit under the Prime Ministerâs Office, Israel Institute for Biological Research has reportedly completed the development of the antibody, and is in process of getting patents done. Stating it as a âsignificant breakthroughâ, Israeli Defense Minister Maj. Naftali Bennett said, âI am proud of the institute staff for this terrific breakthrough. Their creativity and the Jewish mind brought about this amazing achievementâ. Bennett has experience in serving with Israelâs top tier Special Forces, the Sayeret Matkal.
A statement through Bennettâs office described the development as, âantibody that attacks the virus in a monoclonal way and can neutralize it within the bodies of those illâ. The scientists have been able to isolate key CoronaVirus antibody from a single cell.
This âsignificant breakthroughâ, if found suitable enough and accepted by other countries as well, could also be used for prophylaxis and would set world record for the speed of development of any antibody in modern human history. Currently, the patients are being treated with the controversial mixture of Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ), Azithromycin and Zinc (Zn) doses, which have only proved their potency under laboratory conditions and no proven scientific results. The dosage came to highlight when President Trump called it âGame-Changerâ in the history of medicine, and upon being asked about its efficiency he answered about the lack of options available and the rising death rates.
Plasma Therapy is also emerging as a potential treatment of critically ill COVID-19 patients, with several anecdotal results in India.
While some WHO experts state that there might be reasons to believe that making a Covid-19 vaccine might be impossible, more than 100 research groups are already working around the globe with about a dozen of them starting human trials.
The Oxford University, too, reported commencement of phase-1 human trials of its own COVID-19 vaccine on April 23, called âChAdOx1 nCoV-19â.
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Ayush is pursuing Bachelors in Journalism at University of Delhi. His expertise lies in Technological, Defense & Strategy, Health beats and Cinematography and Video Editing.
