A leading expert on the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the United States backed his claims that a vaccine for the disease will be ready by January.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), said there are signs of a vaccine being ready in January 2021.
Multitasking to come up with a cure
"I was saying in January and February [2020] that it would be a year to 18 months, so January is a year, so it isn't that much from what I had originally said," he said on the Today's Show in a report from The Denver Channel.
The NIAID director also said vaccine production can be sped up by manufacturing a test while testing its effectiveness. "If so, we're going to start ramping up production with the companies involved, and you do that at risk. You, at risk, proactively start making it, assuming that it's gonna work," Dr. Fauci said.
According to the World Health Organization, about 100 different vaccines are being studied. Until these are tested, society will not be able to move forward normally.
Dr. Fauci told the Business Insider, "If you want to get to pre-coronavirus, that might never happen in the sense of the fact that the threat is there, but I believe with the therapies that will be coming online and the fact that I feel confident that over a period of time, we will get a good vaccine."
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Almost there
In Europe, Abbott's antibody test had an accuracy rating of 99%, according to the Business Insider. "Its IgG serology blood test received a CE mark, meaning it complies with EU safety requirements," the report said.
IgG stands for Immunoglobulin G. According to WebMD, "It is the most common type of antibody in your blood and other body fluids. These antibodies protect you against infection by 'remembering' which germs you've been exposed to before."
The antibody test is one of two ways of testing if a person has COVID-19. The other one is the polymerase chain reaction test, which detects if there is an antigen in the body or the viral ribonucleic acid (RNA).
"By detecting viral RNA, which will be present in the body before antibodies form or symptoms of the disease are present, the tests can tell whether or not someone has the virus very early on," according to the Medical Device Network.
Abbott tested 73 patients who have COVID19, who took the test 14 days after showing symptoms of the disease. They also tested IgG on 1,070 samples without COVID-19, which also came back with a score of 99%.
An antibody test does not guarantee a person having immunity from COVID-19. A person may even have the antibodies to fight COVID-19 as well as the virus at the same time.
Abbott added, "It also takes time for antibodies to be created within the human body, meaning the test may not work on someone who is in the early stage of infection."
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