Caller · moment 4 of 11
Vaccine Timeline and Scaling Up Production
from Emergency Broadcast - Corona Call-Ins
4 min
Caller
Dr. Steve explains the science behind a potential spike-protein vaccine, the challenge of manufacturing hundreds of millions of doses, and runs rough math on how many people worldwide could get infected.
- Timeline for a coronavirus vaccine and the scaling challenge of producing hundreds of millions of doses.
- Scientists sequenced the genetic material for the spike protein, which allows the virus to attach to human cells and inject genetic material.
- Bacteria can now be engineered to produce the spike protein harmlessly, creating a potential vaccine vector.
- Manufacturing 350 million vaccine doses for the U.S. population is not trivial; vaccinating the world requires 7 billion vials.
- Initial vaccination strategy would prioritize vulnerable populations and people in contact with infected individuals rather than vaccinating everyone immediately.
- Estimates of 70 to 150 million infected people, compared to the 1918 influenza pandemic affecting 10 percent of the global population.
- Ten percent of seven billion people equals 700 million infected in a worst-case pandemic scenario.
- If all seven billion people contracted coronavirus with a three percent mortality rate, it would overwhelm global healthcare systems and produce deaths exceeding mortality from the disease itself.