SCIENTISTS are in a race to develop vaccines against the COVID-19 pandemic that has killed over 398,245 people across the world, with the soaring number of infections. The virus has the propensity to spread fast from one person to another. In the absence of affective medicines to cure it, countries have been compelled to enforce the lockdown and social distancing measures to curb it. But the prolonged lockdown led to the loss of livelihoods of millions of people. So the poor and vulnerable people are at risk of dying from starvation. These twin perilous scenarios have made it urgent to invent anti-corona vaccines as early as possible to save the people from it. Responding to the medical emergency, around 80 groups around the world are researching vaccines while some nations have already tried them on humans which have shown positive outcomes, according to various media reports. If the past researches are any guide, it will take years, if not decades, to develop vaccines.

Experts believe that anti-COVID-19 vaccines can be available by mid-2021 if they work at breakneck speed. Scientists had successfully developed vaccines against polio, smallpox, measles, diphtheria and Ebola which had killed millions of people in the past. The past feat gives us hope that the researchers will be able to discover the much-need vaccines to cure the coronavirus disease. Like many other nations, Nepal is in the midst of battle against the virus that is rising alarmingly each passing day. But the country offers good news for the world after a Nepali doctor claimed that he has prepared a herbal potion for the treatment of COVID-19 patients. His experiment has gained traction as the World Health Organisation (WHO) has expressed desire to fund him if experts approve his composition. Nepali scientist Prof. Dr. Lalit Kumar Das prepared the vaccine that contains herbs with anti-oxidant and anti-virus properties with enzymatic action at the laboratory of the Tribhuvan University, Institute of Forestry in Hetauda. He has sent his concept and medicines used in the vaccines to the WHO which recently held video conference with experts of 73 nations, including Nepal. Dr. Das also participated in it and explained his vaccine formula to the international experts.

This is a matter of happiness that the Nepali doctor is in the spotlight for his research that needs to be medically proved and approved. But ongoing global efforts to invent vaccines require the broad political commitment and support for the early breakthrough. Against this backdrop, the Global Vaccine Summit 2020 held Thursday can be instrumental to this end. The virtual conference raised an additional US$ 8.8 billion for the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisations (GAVI) to develop vaccines for various new diseases, including the COVID-19. It has boosted the GAVI’s works in protecting almost half the world’s children against deadly, preventable infectious diseases. Participating in the summit, President Bidya Devi Bhandari called for ensuring equitable access of vaccines to all. She expressed solidarity with all global initiatives for shared happiness and wellbeing, while highlighting Nepal’s achievements of the immunisation programme. As the ongoing pandemic crisis has exposed economic inequality, the global community must strive for an equitable and robust public health system to effectively tackle the crisis like the present one.