Until we have a COVID-19 vaccine, experts believe that the pandemic will continue and will infect more people over the months, and while it is nearly impossible for a vaccine to be ready this year, pharmaceutical companies from around the world are trying their best to develop a coronavirus vaccine. 

China Leads the Race But Might Experience Hurdles

Among those on the forefront is China, with more than half a dozen vaccine candidates currently being developed and tested in clinical trials.

Just last week, CanSino Biologics, a Tianjin-based company, published the result of their candidate vaccine, sharing the good news that it's safe for human use and is able to trigger an immune response in volunteers who got it, according to a report by Reuters.

As the COVID-19 vaccines are showing promise, China might face another problem.

According to Nature, experts from the country might face issues as their vaccine candidates enter phase 3 trials, which is a critical stage wherein regulators will check the efficacy of these vaccines and approve the ones they believe pass the standards.

During this phase, pharma companies will require tens of thousands of volunteers for their data, but since China largely controlled the coronavirus situation in the country, companies like CanSino Biologics will have to test their candidate coronavirus vaccine abroad.

"The Chinese companies will need to step outside of China," said Jerome Kim, the International Vaccine Institute's director-general in Seoul, South Korea. The race is on, and it's really about who can set up in a high-risk area most quickly."

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Dilemmas for Phase III

However, they will face the dilemma of enrolling thousands of participants and finding enough healthcare professionals to collect the data.

When the pandemic started, healthcare professionals have been in the frontline ever since, and besides the lack of manpower and equipment, many of them face imminent danger from the virus itself as well as the dire working situations they are currently in.

Requiring more manpower for clinical trials of COVID-19 vaccine candidates could be extremely tough.

Besides that, experts fear their vaccine candidates may face scrutiny if they venture out of their country, especially as they have faced vaccine scandals in the past and their "opaque regulatory system."

The country has already received criticisms, especially from experts, for their decision to approve the use of these COVID-19 vaccines on the military even before the third phase is completed.

They don't also have an established network of hospitals globally, said Kim.

Collecting Enough Data

These clinical trials often require years of continuous testing and tens of thousands of participants to deem them as safe and effective.

Unfortunately, pharmaceutical companies don't have that much time, and CanSino, Sinovac, and other companies from Europe and the US are trying their best to provide swift results while maintaining the quality of their COVID-19 vaccine.

Most importantly, companies will have to acquire enough data that adheres to the international standards set up by international regulators and bodies like the World Health Organization (WHO) since if they can't, "you're in trouble," Kim says.

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This article is owned by TechTimes.

Written by: Nhx Tingson