NEW DELHI, July 19: While India is set to begin the trials of its indigenous coronavirus vaccine from this week, a top official from the Indian Medical Association (IMA) has claimed that a vaccine cure for the deadly COVID-19 upon its development and marketing would reach usable stage only after 2020.
"A usable vaccine to cure COVID-19 and bringing the same to good use would go beyond 2020. Developing a vaccine for viral infections is a longer process as firstly, these infections have shorter immunity and secondly, viruses mutate faster, so this makes developers clueless as to which mutation is there in which part of the country," said Dr VK Monga, IMA Board of Hospitals Chairman.
Dr Monga further added that for developing a vaccine there are multiple stages and steps. "Developing a vaccine is not a political decision, it involves a lot of steps and procedures," he said. Explaining the process, he said, "First, we isolate the virus then you develop an antidote to that, followed by animal testing and then on human volunteers. Secondly, you see the efficacy, toxicity and then its longevity as to how long it sustains." � IANS
