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As COVID-19 Cases Mount in Berkeley, Residents Patiently Await a Safe and Effective Vaccine
In early January 2020, a novel coronavirus, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV2), was isolated in several patients in Wuhan, China (1). Because of a global outbreak in 2002 of a different but genetically similar coronavirus (SARS), and subsequent outbreak of another coronavirus called MERS-CoV in 2012, scientists around the world immediately pivoted to working on vaccines and treatments for this new disease. This included molecular virologists, immunologists, biochemists, and structural biologists at UCSF, UC Berkeley, and the Innovative Genomics Institute (IGI).
As of August 6, 2020, the City of Berkeley has reported 422 SARS-CoV-2 cases and four deaths. With rapidly increasing community spread, and a burning desire to get back to some semblance of normality, the need for an effective vaccine and therapy grows stronger every day. If all goes well – and there are no major setbacks in the clinical trials – a vaccine to prevent infection with SARS-CoV-2, and new and more effective antiviral therapies to treat the disease known as COVID19 (Coronavirus Disease 2019), might be available within six months to a year.
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