BOSTON (WHDH) - The demand for a COVID-19 vaccine is at an all-time high as the number of coronavirus-related deaths in the United States surges toward 4,000.
Scientists at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center are in the early stages of developing a vaccine to treat the disease.
“The goal is to manufacture large amounts of this vaccine and then eventually make it available for global use,” Dr. Dan Barouch said.
They are using a common cold virus to deliver an antigen into the cells which will, in turn, trigger an immune system response.
“We always have to be careful and safety always comes first however for this epidemic, given the global crisis, we want to move forward as quickly as possible,” Barouch said.
Researchers at Beth Israel expect that clinical trials for the vaccine will begin in the fall.
That is around the same time infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci anticipates a second wave of the outbreak to hit the U.S.
While that may be cause for concern, Fauci said that he believes by then, we will be better prepared.
“I don’t think at all that it will be as bad,” he explained. “We’d have better equipment, we’d be able to deal with it better. We have a number of drugs that are in clinical trial and we’re pushing hard on the vaccine.”
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