The head of the Czech contact tracing team Roman Prymula says that the country has launched research activities to develop a vaccine against COVID-19. The research is focusing on the use of dead virus material, which he described as the classic, albeit more conservative approach with vaccines. There are dozens of other similar research projects already underway around the world, admitted Prymula, some of which are developing methods that would use the genetic material of other viruses in order to provoke a stronger immune response in the body of the recipient. This approach is riskier, however, because while the vaccine could produce longer-lasting immunity, there’s a greater likelihood of unacceptably severe side effects scuppering the entire project.
Prime minister Andrej Babiš admitted the research began as soon as the coronavirus arrived in the country, but that the research has been going on behind the scenes. So far, it has only progressed to the phase of laboratory tests on cell cultures, which if promising would be followed by tests on animals.
