A man reacts as a doctor wearing a protective gear takes a swab from him to test for the coronavirus disease at a residential area in Ahmedabad. (Image: Reuters)

A vaccine or medication that could shorten the infectious period of COVID-19 in patients, even by one day, may potentially prevent millions of cases and save billions of dollars, according to a new modelling study.

The research, published in the journal PLOS Computational Biology, noted that some vaccines and drugs may have subtler effects by which even if they cannot prevent or cure COVID-19, they may still reduce how long an infected person is contagious.

In the study, scientists including those from the CUNY Graduate School of Public Health in the US, assessed the potential value of shortening the infectious period in COVID-19 patients.

The researchers created a computational model that simulates the spread of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19 and used it to explore how a vaccine or medication that can reduce the contagious period might alleviate the clinical and economic impact of the disease.

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COVID-19 Vaccine

Frequently Asked Questions

How does a vaccine work?

A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.

How many types of vaccines are there?

There are broadly four types of vaccine — one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine.

What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind?

Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time.

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Cutting COVID-19 infectious period even by one day could prevent millions of cases, study says

The research, published in the journal PLOS Computational Biology, noted that some vaccines and drugs may have subtler effects by which even if they cannot prevent or cure COVID-19, they may still reduce how long an infected person is contagious.

A man reacts as a doctor wearing a protective gear takes a swab from him to test for the coronavirus disease at a residential area in Ahmedabad. (Image: Reuters)

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