431: Vaccines for COVID-19: What Are Our Best Shots? - a podcast by The Quint

Even as curbs have been put on movements across the world, a majority of the population is still vulnerable without a cure for coronavirus.

Hydroxychloroquine tablets may have received the most media attention as a possible treatment option or even a prophylactic among a host of other existing drugs being tested to treat symptoms of COVID-19, but experts say that there’s no certainty on how much of it really works.

So, this is our current conundrum: the strict lockdowns or the restrictions cannot go on forever without killing the economy, but neither do we have a cure or immunisation yet. The only other option we can hope for at this point of time is for a vaccination and vcaccine researchers are running full tilt to develop one.

US had begun its first human trials in March. Oxford in the UK has also recently begun trials of human volunteers — the biggest trial so far with over 6000 participants. And then there's also billionaire Bill Gates who is hoping to be able to manufacture vaccines in a year if things go well.

But how close are we to a vaccine for coronavirus now? And what do we know of the current contenders? Tune in to The Big Story!

Producer and Host: Shorbori Purkayastha

Editor: Vaishali Sood, Editor, Quint Fit

Music: Big Bang Fuzz

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