Australia To Test Coronavirus Vaccine; US Doctor Claims To Have Potential Cure

Australia’s national science agency plans to test a pair of vaccines over the next 90 days, part of a global race to stop the coronavirus pandemic.

As researchers scramble for a cure, a doctor featured in “Pandemic,” a Netflix documentary, announced his team may have discovered a coronavirus cure which will now be tested by the U.S. military.

DW.com, Germany’s international news outlet, reported the Australian government scientists have begun the first stages of testing for a potential vaccine against the coronavirus.

The site reports Australia’s national science agency, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), said Thursday (April 2) that testing is underway at its biosecurity facility.

Testing is being done in cooperation with the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), a global group whose mission is to speedily develop vaccines against emerging infectious diseases, DW wrote.

CSIRO will initially test two vaccine candidates that were developed by the University of Oxford and American biotechnology company Inovio Pharmaceuticals, the site reported. The candidates were identified by CEPI in consultation with the World Health Organization.

“Beginning vaccine candidate testing at CSIRO is a critical milestone in the fight against COVID-19, made possible by collaboration both within Australia and across the globe,” CSIRO Chief Executive Dr Larry Marshall said in a statement.

“We will keep working until this viral enemy is defeated.”

That’s good news, because a recent PYMNTS survey of U.S. consumers found that a large number of Americans won’t feel safe to get back to normal living until a vaccine is available. Our poll found that 31.7 percent won’t return to their work lives without that, while 26.6 percent need to see a vaccine available before resuming normal leisure activities outside the home. (Click here to read more of our survey results.)

At the same time, The New York Post reported Jacob Glanville, who operates Distributed Bio, a San Francisco biotechnology group, tweeted that a new antibody therapy, which works by blocking the coronavirus from infecting human cells, is a potential cure for the deadly bug that has swept the globe.

On Tuesday (March 31), Netflix released a six-episode docuseries, “Pandemic: How to Prevent an Outbreak,” as the alarm has been sounded on the virus. The series introduces viewers to the “heroes on the front lines of the battle against influenza and learn about their efforts to stop the next global outbreak,” according to the Netflix summary.

“I’m happy to report that my team has successfully taken five antibodies that back in 2002 were determined to bind and neutralize, block and stop the SARS virus [and] evolved them in our laboratory, so now they very vigorously block and stop the SARS-CoV-2 [COVID-19] virus as well.” Glanville told the Radio New Zealand program “Checkpoint.”