During the SARS period in 2003, many institutions and enterprises piled up to develop SARS vaccine, but when it came to the time when large-scale experiments could be done, the epidemic ended and the SARS vaccine was “aborted”. This time, although the new crown vaccine has made great progress in research and development, there is still a long way to go before it is finally developed successfully. People cannot help but ask: will the new crown vaccine be like the SARS vaccine, “no disease and no end”? “I believe that the development of the new vaccine will be the best, and we will learn from the lessons of the past and never stop halfway. said Professor Linqi Zhang, professor at Tsinghua University School of Medicine and director of the Center for Global Health and Infectious Disease Research. Depending on the duration of the epidemic, Professor Zhang has two different interpretations of “extreme”. If the epidemic lasts longer, the vaccine effectiveness will be evaluated; if the epidemic passes, we will be able to do clinical phase I trials to prove the safety of the vaccine, so that if the new coronavirus comes back later, we can advance to the protective evaluation stage as soon as possible. On March 6, at a press conference on the State Council’s joint prevention and control mechanism, Zheng Zhongwei, director of the Medical and Health Science and Technology Development Research Center of the National Health Commission, introduced that it is estimated that in April, according to the relevant national laws and regulations, there may be hope that some vaccines can enter the clinical or emergency use. Regarding the process of vaccine development, Director Zhang Linqi introduced that the whole process can be divided into preclinical research, i.e. vaccine principle design and small dose preparation, animal experiments, etc.; clinical trial declaration and phases I, II and III of clinical trials. When asked Prof. Zhang Linqi which step can be taken the furthest regarding this new crown vaccine development according to the current situation, Prof. Zhang said that it can be taken to the clinical phase I to prove the safety of the vaccine, which is the furthest step that can be taken after the epidemic is over soon, and also the extreme that can be done. “Phase I clinical trials test the safety and control the vaccine dose; Phase II clinical trials test the effectiveness and compare the infection rate; Phase III clinical trials verify ‘real and effective’.” Professor Zhang Linqi believes that if the epidemic continues for a long time, it will be possible to enter the effectiveness testing phase. But if the epidemic ends soon it will have to wait until afterwards when patients with new coronary pneumonia reappear before its effectiveness is further evaluated. “The undeveloped SARS vaccine will not affect the development of the new crown vaccine.” Academician Zhong Nanshan said in a previous interview with the media that the new crown virus is a coronavirus, which is parallel to the SARS coronavirus, the two are the same class (virus), but not the same kind. If previously developed the same group of different species of SARS vaccine whether it will help the current new crown vaccine research and development attack? Professor Zhang Linqi told reporters that the current study found that the human immune response to the new crown virus and the immune response to the SARS virus are very different. In terms of the vaccine itself or from scratch, and can not be replaced by the SARS vaccine or evolved into a new coronavirus vaccine. Therefore, even if the SARS vaccine was successfully developed at that time, it could only provide some empirical help to the current development of the new coronavirus vaccine in the process of technical implementation. The SARS vaccine back then, too, was not eventually marketed due to multiple factors. “The Institute did SARS vaccine that year was very hard, all the identification was completed, to 2006, so it was not done.” Academician Zhong Nanshan had previously said at a seminar on the 10th anniversary of the SARS outbreak. Although the identification was completed, the clinical trials needed to develop the vaccine are difficult to continue to move forward. Content source: Health Times