A coronavirus shot is more than 18 months away, and attempting to accelerate the process could be “very risky,” a former vaccine evaluator has told The Times of Israel.
Manfred Green said he understands the public pressure for relaxing testing procedures, given the scale of the pandemic. But a badly tested vaccine could have “adverse effects,” he argued.
Green, who has conducted vaccine tests for Israel’s Health Ministry, said: “If a vaccine is developed in the next few months, you can imagine if there were a one in 1,000 or one in 10,000 adverse reaction. That could be very problematic if you’re giving it to millions of people.”
He made his comments on Sunday, as the race to develop and test a vaccine is intensifying — even to the point of generating international friction. German media reported that the Trump administration has offered the German company CureVac “large sums of money” in return for exclusive access to their work.
In Israel, ever since the Science Ministry made headlines two weeks ago by saying that a state-funded institute’s vaccine could be three months away, there is excitement about the research and widespread support for accelerated testing. In America, the Food and Drug Administration has signaled that it is open to speeding up normal processes.
“When responding to an urgent public health situation such as novel coronavirus, we intend to exercise regulatory flexibility and consider all data relevant to a certain vaccine platform,” FDA spokeswoman Stephanie Caccomo said in a statement. READ MORE