In the fifth episode of Health24 s vaccine information series, Professor Wolfgang Preiser, Head of Medical Virology at Stellenbosch University, discusses the speed at which the Covid-19 vaccines were created.
Preiser also acknowledges a great deal of skepticism around the vaccines because they were developed in such a short time frame but explains how it was possible and what it took.
The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (Gavi) has said that the research groundwork for the Covid vaccines is not entirely new, that several techniques scientists are using have been researched and worked on before for other vaccines and treatments.
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Dr Tasnim Suliman in the biosafety level-3 (BSL-3) laboratory.
The SARS-CoV-2 virus has kept scientists on their toes for more than a year, while it grew stealthier and new variants cropped up.
South Africa obtained its first laboratory isolate of the virus from Covid-19 positive patients at Tygerberg Hospital in April 2020, courtesy of the collaborative efforts of the University of the Western Cape (UWC) and Stellenbosch University (SU), a news release stated. A virus isolate was taken from an infected patient and grown in the lab under safe and controlled conditions.
Dr Tasnim Suliman, associate lecturer in virology at UWC and a post-doctoral research fellow working under Professor Megan Shaw, an influenza expert – in collaboration with Professor Wolfgang Preiser, SU s head of medical virology – has been growing and studying the virus in the laboratory since then.