by Chen Yu
SYDNEY, March 17 (Xinhua) -- There is still a long way ahead before the U.S. coronavirus vaccine that entered a clinical trial on Monday could reach the public, according to an Australian biology expert.
It will take at least one year before the vaccine, if workable, could be put into circulation, Dan Nicolau, associate professor at Queensland University of Technology (QUT), told Xinhua.
He meanwhile praised the research work behind the vaccine as "significant." The vaccine is based on a new method which contains no virus but involves the use of an mRNA strand that codes for a disease-specific antigen. So far, there is no other vaccine like it on the market.
Referring to the clinical trial, Nicolau said, "Firstly, the vaccine will resemble SARS-targeted vaccines, and we believe those are safe."
"Secondly, if the animal trials being run in parallel do show weird effects, we could still stop the vaccine from being released to the public," he added.
However, "Nobody should be fooled into thinking there will be a vaccine soon," he noted.
The Australian expert also said he believes the vaccine could have an efficacy as high as 70 percent, which is similar to that used against the common influenza.
The coronavirus vaccine, named mRNA-1273, was jointly created by the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the U.S. biotechnology company Moderna.
The COVID-19 pandemic situation has been worsening around the world, with infections multiplying in a number of countries in recent days.
World Health Organization (WHO) data released on Monday evening showed over 167,500 cases have been confirmed globally, including some 86,440 cases and some 3,400 deaths outside of China.
