At a time when the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic has thrown life out of gear across the world, humanity needs something to look forward to. One such piece of news is that researchers from Sunnybrook Research Institute and two Ontario universities have managed to isolate and grow copies of Covid-19. The team was able to culture the virus from two clinical specimens in a Level 3 containment facility.
Isolating the virus, which has caused more than 138,000 infections and over 5,000 deaths around the world since it first appeared in China’s Hubei province in December 2019, can help scientists in Canada and around the world to “develop better diagnostic testing, treatments, and vaccines,” and also understand it a bit better in terms of its biology and evolution, according to Sunnybrook.
While the outbreak has begun to level off in China, the virus has found a foothold in a number of countries around the world, and it continues to spread, with deaths exceeding 5,000. More than 138,000 people have been infected by the coronavirus across the world, according to a Reuters tally. Infections have now been reported by over 130 countries outside China. The two Ontario universities with researchers on the team are McMaster University and University of Toronto.
Though isolating the virus is a silver lining, health experts say a Covid-19 vaccine is still 12 to 24 months away. David Kelvin, a professor of microbiology and immunology at Dalhousie University, has received a $1mn grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research to help examine the outbreak, specifically relating to his work on evaluating patients diagnosed with the virus. He said a realistic target for a vaccine would be in the 18-month range.
The World Health Organisation has also said a vaccine is at least 18 months away. Kelvin said vaccines traditionally take years to develop, but there’s been one advantage with Covid-19 — the structure and genome of the virus is very similar to the Sars coronavirus. This has allowed scientists to draw on the research from early Sars vaccine candidates.
Kelvin’s colleague, Chris Richardson, is currently working on a vaccine that places a Sars protein inside the measles vaccine. Testing is now under way at the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organisation – International Vaccine Centre at the University of Saskatchewan. The first phase of testing is in animal models which allow to determine whether or not that vaccine allows for protection against infection with Covid-19.
In order for a vaccine to be used widely, it needs to do two things, according to Kelvin. First, it has to create an “immune response” where the body produces antibodies that can fight against the specific virus. And, second, it has to be safe for the person receiving the vaccine. 
Around the world, roughly 20 coronavirus vaccine candidates are being developed by research institutes and drugmakers including America’s Johnson & Johnson and France’s Sanofi SA. In China, more than 80 clinical trials are under way. Biotechnology company Moderna Inc — working with the US-funded National Institutes of Health has announced plans to start a trial of a vaccine candidate on 45 people in Seattle this month.
Testing on animals will proceed simultaneously with human trials. However, some experts are concerned that accelerated testing doesn’t adequately evaluate harm to humans. Some studies have shown that coronavirus vaccines carry the risk of what is known as “vaccine enhancement” where it could end up worsening the infection in some patients rather than preventing it. So the best option right now is to aggressively adopt prevention protocols.