HEALTH: Scientists race to develop a coronavirus vaccine

Inovio says if the initial human trials are a success, larger trials would follow, ideally in an outbreak setting in China "by the end of the year".It is impossible to predict whether this outbreak is likely to have ended by then. But if Inovio's timeline goes to plan, the company says it will be the quickest a new vaccine has ever been developed and tested in an outbreak situation.The last time a similar virus - Sars - emerged in 2002 - China was slow to let the world know what was happening. So by the time work on a vaccine started in earnest, the outbreak was almost over.

The timeline of 2019-nCoV

31 December 2019 - China alerts the World Health Organization (WHO) about a spate of pneumonia-like cases in Wuhan

1 January 2020 - The seafood/animal market believed to be at the centre of the outbreak is closed

9 January - The WHO says the infection is caused by a new type of coronavirus

10 January - China shares the genetic code of the new virus

11 January - Scientists start working on a vaccine - and the first death confirmed

13 January - Virus spreads abroad for the first time, with a case in Thailand

The work in these labs is being funded by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (Cepi), which is made up of and funded by governments and philanthropic organisations from around the world. It was created in the aftermath of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa to provide funding to accelerate the development of vaccines for new diseases. Dr Melanie Saville, director of vaccine research and development at Cepi, said: "The mission is to make sure that outbreaks are no longer a threat to humanity and to develop vaccines for emerging infectious diseases." 'Molecular clamp'Cepi is also funding two other programmes that are developing a vaccine for this new coronavirus. The University of Queensland is working on a "molecular clamp" vaccine, which it says "enables targeted and rapid vaccine production against multiple viral pathogens."

Moderna Inc in Massachusetts has also joined forces with the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to accelerate its research. The WHO is co-ordinating this global quest for a new vaccine. It says it is following the progress of a number of research facilities, including the three supported by Cepi.Although efforts to come up with a vaccine for this new coronavirus have been accelerated, research is still at an early stage at all the facilities in the race to find a new vaccine. Clinical trials take time and are best carried out within an outbreak setting. There are no guarantees any of the designs so far will be safe and effective enough to be used in the outbreak in China. Ana Maria Henao-Restrepo from the WHO's Health Emergencies programme said: "We have developed a framework to inform decisions on which candidate vaccine(s) should be tested first."The experts will consider a number of criteria, including acceptable safety profile, induction of appropriate immune responses, and the timely availability of sufficient supplies of vaccine doses."Understanding the disease, its reservoirs, its transmission, its clinical severity and developing effective counter measures is critical for the control of the outbreak." The WHO is due to decide which vaccine will be tested on humans first in the coming days.

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