Saskatchewan lab has coronavirus vaccine in testing stages

The University of Saskatchewan has been working on the vaccine since January 2020 when they received a grant from he Public Health Agency of Canada to kick start the project.

The vaccine could still take a year to complete and be confirmed as safe for humans. The vaccine is currently being tested on animals, according to CJWW.

VIDO-InterVac CEO Volker Gerdts told CJWW that it was the SARS outbreak of the early 2000s that gave them a step up this time around.

Canada was the only country outside of Asia to record deaths from the SARS virus.

Gerdst is positive that the vaccine will work, with the team being only weeks away from finishing the research stages.

The team developed the virus only weeks after it was announced that the Saskatchewan research team would be granted nearly $1 million in an effort to develop the vaccine.

“The global race is on to find out which is the best animal model for replicating the disease observed in humans. Is it mice, hamsters, or ferrets? Whichever model works best is the one we’re going to use. Once the model is developed, we will then be able to test our vaccine candidates for effectiveness,” said Gerdts in the press release.

“We will make the models available to other investigators who have leading candidate vaccines, antiviral drugs and immunity-boosting therapies.”

Confirmed cases of the virus have passed 150,000 worldwide, with nearly 200 confirmed cases in Canada.