The question everyone is asking is how in the world are we going to treat this virus? And how long are we going to have to wait for a treatment? We need some kind of antiviral drug or vaccine in order to contain this virus and stop it from taking so many lives of our loved ones across the globe. So far there are a couple of hopeful prospects including the antiviral drug Remdesivir and a vaccine against SARS-CoV-2, which is the coronavirus causing the Covid-19 pandemic.
Remdesivir is an antiviral that is not technically licensed or or approved anywhere globally, according to Drugs.com. This antiviral drug is undergoing investigational clinical trials to later be used as a treatment for Covid-19. Another article describes the way this drug works. Supposedly it will insert itself into the viral RNA thereby preventing the Covid-19 virus from replicating. This all sounds great, but it still isn’t approved by the FDA. How long will that take? Well, the FDA is allowing some “compassionate use” of the drug. According to NPR, “The FDA says it has granted this sort of access to remdesivir to about 250 patients already.” I believe this is a good way to handle this situation because if it were me or any of my loved ones who were dying from this virus and there was a treatment that might work but hadn’t been approved yet, I would on any given day give them permission to use it on me.
Another option of treating this virus is a vaccine against SARS-CoV-2. According to UPMC, this vaccine was fairly easy to continue on with because it had been in the making since the previous coronavirus outbreaks. They are calling this the “PittCoVac.” They reported that “When tested in mice, PittCoVacc generated a surge of antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 within two weeks of the microneedle prick.” Would this mean that once this vaccine is approved, we could begin to fight this virus within 2 weeks of receiving it? That would be game-changing. Unfortunately, testing this vaccine in humans would be a much longer process, so this vaccine will most likely not be available for a little while.
It brings hope to many to see that the scientists are hard at work for the sake of saving lives. We don’t thank those scientists enough. Maybe one way we can thank them is by buying them some time to develop a treatment and stay inside, wash your hands and stop touching your face.
Magnifying Microbiology 