Traditional vaccines can take years to create. Rather than immunizing people with viral proteins, the new approach gives the molecular instructions that allows the body to make its own vaccine.
While there is no cure for COVID-19, dozens of clinical trials are underway to test retroviral medicines and potential vaccines targeting the novel coronavirus.
Under pressure to develop a coronavirus vaccine, researchers have turned to protein synthesis, genetics and hybrid viruses. It is likely a mix of these approaches will be used to fight the coronavirus.
Michelle Grattan interviews immunologist and Nobel Laureate Peter Doherty about controlling the coronavirus pandemic, and the prospects of developing a vaccine.
Getting vaccinated against the flu, washing your hands and social distancing are three ways you can help reduce the impact of both the flu and coronavirus.
Inspired by amber and hard candy, researchers figured out a new, needle-free, shelf-stable way to preserve vaccines, making them easier to ship and administer around the world.
Researchers around the world are working together to control the coronavirus outbreak, now known as COVID-19. This is what’s behind the global effort to develop a vaccine.
One of the dangers of the new coronavirus is that there is no treatment – and no vaccine. But researchers had already been at work on vaccines for close-related viruses.
Measles infection can be easily managed with prompt health care and symptom management. But without care, mild symptoms can turn into life threatening secondary infections or long-term effects.
Smallpox is the only disease to be eradicated through sustained human effort. Many of these volunteers were women who defied social norms to save lives in India.
Responding to someone who questions vaccination can be difficult. Before you react, it pays to assess the situation because weighing in can do more harm than good.
You no longer have to go to your GP to get your flu shot or catch up on vaccinations you missed earlier in life or have waning immunity to. But they’re unlikely to be free.
Dean Faculty of Health Sciences and Professor of Vaccinology at University of the Witwatersrand; and Director of the SAMRC Vaccines and Infectious Diseases Analytics Research Unit, University of the Witwatersrand