Coronavirus vaccine could be available in 90 days

Coronavirus vaccine could be available in 90 days
# 29 February 2020 00:26 (UTC +04:00)

Israeli Science and Technology Minister Ofir Akunis confirmed Thursday that scientists are close to developing the first vaccine against the COVID-19 novel coronavirus, APA reports quoting Sputnik.

The vaccine could be ready within a few weeks and available in 90 days if all continues going according to plan, Akunis noted.

“Congratulations to MIGAL [The Galilee Research Institute] on this exciting breakthrough. I am confident there will be further rapid progress, enabling us to provide a needed response to the grave global COVID-19 threat,” Akunis is quoted as saying, the Jerusalem Post reported.

The scientists have also been working over the last four years to develop a vaccine against infectious bronchitis virus (IBV), a coronavirus that affects chickens. After scientists sequenced the DNA of COVID-19, MIGAL researchers discovered that IBV is very genetically similar to the novel coronavirus and uses the same infection method. Given the fact that Israeli scientists have been working on an IBV vaccine, they could be able to develop a human vaccine for COVID-19 very quickly, Dr. Chen Katz, MIGAL’s biotechnology group leader, explained.

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