Quartz Looks At Vaccine Research, Development Amid Ebola, Zika Epidemics

Quartz: Why it takes so long to develop a vaccine against a new epidemic
“…Three [Zika] vaccine candidates have been shown to work successfully in monkeys and one is being tested in a human trial, raising hopes that a vaccine may soon be available on the market. But don’t get your hopes too high. Even with such success stories, it is unlikely that any Zika vaccine will be available this year or even early next year. That’s because developing a safe and effective vaccine is difficult in the best of times, and gets harder during an epidemic. Consider the example of Ebola…” (Rathi, 8/5).

Quartz: Zika vaccines are on a fast-track, but it won’t be fast enough to handle the current outbreak
“If it seems like every time an infectious diseases reaches U.S. soil, there’s a mad scramble to develop a vaccine — and an attending public outcry about why we’re playing catch-up — it’s because that’s exactly what happens…” (Wolfson, 8/5).

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