Vaccine For Disease X Could Be Ready Within 100 Days

(CTN News) – The British scientists have laid the groundwork for the development of a vaccine in as little as 100 days for a new virus with pandemic potential.

Currently, Oxford researchers are examining how to adapt the vaccine that they developed for Covid-19 to treat an unknown disease, known as Disease X, using the vaccine created for Covid-19.

Furthermore, they will examine how other can be developed in order to thwart future threats as well.

As part of the announcement, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) announced that it was awarding Oxford scientists up to 80 million dollars (£63.6 million) towards the project.

In order to develop prototype vaccines against viruses that are most likely to cause a future pandemic, scientists will come up with prototypes which can be quickly adapted should a new threat arise in the future.

This would open the doors to the development of new vaccines within just 100 days of the emergence of a virus with pandemic potential, according to the CEPI.

In addition, researchers will also have to work on ways to speed up the production of vaccines in order to ensure that vaccines will be available more quickly in the event of an outbreak in the future.

According to Professor Sir Andrew Pollard, director of the Oxford Group at Oxford University and investigator at the Pandemic Sciences Institute, the CEPI commitment has been groundbreaking and will provide momentum that will enable us to do critical research that will help us to be better prepared for future outbreaks of pandemics.

In order to secure the safety of future generations against the ongoing threats from the microbial world, we will work with CEPI to build on our extensive experience in development over the past 30 years and our world-leading response to the Covid-19 outbreak with the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.

In his remarks as CEPI’s chief executive officer, Dr Richard Hatchett said, “I am confident that CEPI will benefit from Oxford University’s world class scientists and its commitment to global equitable access through this partnership as we prepare ourselves to face future pandemic threats.”

In order to develop against Disease X, researchers from the UK Health Security Agency have already begun work on developing these vaccines.

Porton Down, a high-security laboratory located in Wiltshire, is currently conducting research.

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