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Johnson & Johnson is working on a vaccine for the novel coronavirus and it comes with some good and some bad news. According to a press release from the company, a COVID-19 vaccine research fund has been started. The bad news is it may not be ready for human-testing until September.
The company and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services teamed up and “have committed more than $1 billion of investment to co-fund vaccine research, development, and clinical testing.”
“We have very good early indicators that not only can we depend on this to be a safe vaccine base but also one that will ultimately be effective based on all the early testing and modelling we’ve been doing,” Johnson & Johnson chairman and CEO Alex Gorsky told CNBC. “This is a bit of a moonshot for J&J going forward, but it’s one we feel is very, very important for use to be doing at this period in time.”
Hopefully a vaccine can be found sooner rather than later.
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The coronavirus outbreak has led to the cancellation or postponing of many large events including the NCAA Tournament, Coachella, SXSW, the Winter X Games, Stagecoach, Ultra Music Festival in Miami, and more. The NBA, NHL, and MLS have temporarily suspended their seasons.
The coronavirus mainly comes from animals and a majority of those who were infected early either worked at or frequently visited the Huanan seafood wholesale market in Wuhan, according to The Guardian. The virus is similar to Severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) and Middle Eastern respiratory syndrome (Mers).
The Wuhan coronavirus is transmitted from person to person through “droplet transmission.” That means an infected person can pass the virus by sneezing or coughing on another person as well as by direct contact.
While a majority of the cases have been detected in China, it has now reached many countries around the world including the United States. It has also been confirmed in Italy, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, and many other eastern countries.
