As the world works around the clock to combat the Coronavirus outbreak, an experimental vaccine is now being tested, according to new reports. In fact, several volunteers have already been administered the vaccine.
Jennifer Haller, a 43-year-old Seattle mom, was the first patient to receive the shot, according to the Associated Press. Another volunteer, 46-year-old Neal Browning from Bothel, Washington, revealed that his daughters are proud of him for his decision to volunteer to a vaccine. However, he encouraged them not to brag. “Every parent wants their children to look up to them. It’s other people, too. It’s not just Dad out there,” he told AP.
“U.S. researchers gave the first shots in a first test of an experimental coronavirus vaccine Monday, leading off a worldwide hunt for protection even as the pandemic surges,” the Associated Press reports. “With careful jabs in the arms of four healthy volunteers, scientists at the Kaiser Permanente Washington Research Institute in Seattle began an anxiously awaited first-stage study of a potential COVID-19 vaccine developed in record time after the new virus exploded out of China and fanned out across the globe.”
Despite the breakthrough, the Associated Press warns that the world is not out of the woods yet, assuring that “even if the research goes well, a vaccine would not be available for widespread use for 12 to 18 months,” this according to Dr. Anthony Fauci of the U.S. National Institutes of Health.
