CBC | These Quebec professors are trying to develop a coronavirus vaccine
Researchers at two Quebec universities are working together in hopes of developing a new vaccine that could prevent COVID-19 and similar outbreaks. Amine Kamen, a biomedical engineer at McGill University will be working with Denis Leclerc, a researcher from Laval University. Kamen's primary role in the research will be to generate antigens — toxins that urge the body to create antibodies in order to fight off disease.
By the time the vaccine goes through testing and clinical trials, it can take more than a year to reach the public, said Kamen. "Prior to any vaccine that gets approved there is a long sequence of evaluations, of testing. This will definitely take time for a vaccine that would be considered as a commercial vaccine. Experimental vaccines will come reasonably within the year." Because the vaccine could take so long, Kamen said researchers are focusing on developing a vaccine that could easily evolve in case the disease itself mutates.