Daily Times

The race for developing a coronavirus vaccine is becoming a political as well economical issue. Since the emergence of the virus in December last in China and its subsequent resistance-free attack all over the world, the need for developing a resistant vaccine has become the order of the day. Many pharmaceutical companies with the help of their governments and medical research institutions have been trying hard to reach the vaccine destination first to capture the global market; of course, it is the presumed lucrative return that has been keeping the researchers sleepless for months. To the much dismay of the West, it appears, China and Russia have won the race. It is being reported that a unit of the China National Pharmace­utical Gro­­up has come up with a safe vaccine that can trigger antibody-based immunity in coronavirus patients. The vaccine, among eight other contenders in different stages of clinical trials, is passing through the third and final stage where the volunteers running in thousands have shown positive signs of recovery and the results are stated to be effective enough to win regulatory approval. The group has been carrying out trials at the international level on 15,000 people, also from Pakistan. So far, no side-effects or harmful results have been reported, which makes the prospects of curing coronavirus related issues brighter. But the vaccine will be put on the market by the end of the year with the final phase trial likely to be completed in about three months. If all goes well, China will be the second country after Russia to be a country with the coronavirus country. Last week, Russia allowed formal marketing of its indigenous vaccine after a rapid testing and trial on human volunteers.

The West, however, has welcomed the Chinese and Russian innovations with serious reservations. These are desperate times as the whole world, especially Europe, North and South Americas, and a few Asian and Arab countries have been under the severe attack of the virus for the last few months. It seems the vaccine is going to divide the globe as the west is going to show a vehement reaction to those countries going for either Russian or Chinese products. This shows the developed world of the West wants to make the most of the virus pandemic. This points to the setting in of the times when viruses and diseases will become a source of economic value. The world must stick to ethical norms, instead of making human health a source of capital. *