Urgency in SARS-CoV-2 vaccine development: what criteria a vaccine must meet

Freiburg/Berlin, May 2020 - The COVID-19 pandemic continues to progress. The Coronavirus Resource Center at Johns Hopkins University currently reports around 4.1 million confirmed infections and more than 283,000 deaths worldwide (as of May 11, 2020). In view of the health risks associated with an infection and the social, economic and psychological consequences of the containment measures, there are currently high hopes for the rapid development and approval of a vaccine against SARS-CoV-2. Experts from Society of Virology (GfV) and the German Society for Immunology (DGfI) have now commented on key aspects of vaccine development in a recent statement.

In the statement, Professor Dr. med. Hartmut Hengel, President of Society of Virology (GfV), and Professor Dr. med. Thomas Kamradt, President of the German Society for Immunology (DGfI), explain why the development of a vaccine is of great importance, which requirements this vaccine must fulfil and how the complex process of vaccine development could be accelerated if necessary - while at the same time complying with all criteria regarding effectiveness and tolerability.

The experts emphasise: Despite the urgency, there should be no cutbacks in the careful testing of the vaccine's efficacy and tolerability. All vaccines used in human medicine have undergone extensive and lengthy testing in both animal studies and multi-phase clinical trials to prove their safety and efficacy. With all the urgency, this should apply equally to a vaccine against SARS-CoV-2.

Although there is no guarantee when or if a vaccine can be developed, promising approaches and vaccine candidates already exist. In view of the massive and cooperative global efforts, it seems possible that the development of a vaccine candidate against SARS-CoV-2 that meets all the necessary criteria of safety and efficacy could be completed in one to one and a half years, according to the experts from GfV and DGfI.

The Board of Directors of the Society of Virology

You can find the full statement from the GfV and DGfI at
https://dgfi.org/
https://www.g-f-v.org/stellungnahmen_detail

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DGfI Office
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Phone: 030 28460 648
mail@dgfi.org