All You Need To Know About The Covid-19 Vaccine

The complex world of Covid-19 vaccine trials explained.

- Simone Sribrath

Somewhere in the deep unexplored depths of Madagascar, an unknown herb is probably on its way to becoming a global panacea for the pandemic.

This is Africa, a continent ripe with possibilities, where you cannot rule out that a cure for Covid-19 could perhaps come from nature itself. Just like Madagascar, currently touting Artemisia Afra (umhlonyane in Nguni languages and previously used as an ingredient for treating malaria) as a potential cure for Covid-19, bigger economies like South Africa are also looking to the botanical world for answers. Its national Department of Basic Education has reassigned R15 million ($960,982) of its budget on Covid-19 interventions such as Artemisia. Nigeria has also made a move towards a more homeopathic approach, as a ministerial committee has been put in place to further examine the potential natural compounds hold in combating the Covid-19 pandemic.

But the focus of this story is exploring humanity’s race to uncover a universal vaccine – or any cure – that can assuage a health crisis confronting the entire world.

Currently, there are over 60 possible vaccines the world over being put through the paces. Of these, only nine are in the third phase of trials. The road to finding a Covid-19 vaccine since the start of the pandemic this year has been long and arduous. For the layperson, desperate to see an effective vaccine come online soon, the deluge of news on vaccine trials can seem complex. This article will discern the facts around them.