Is there a possible vaccine against covid-19?

there is an article in "Der Spiegel" about a vaccine that could help against the covid-19 virus. It's behind a paywall, but the beginning I can read:

Did this Max Planck researcher find corona protection?
Berlin-based Stefan Kaufmann developed a vaccine against tuberculosis. The drug may face a second career in the fight against Covid-19. Tests on subjects could begin in four weeks.
By Johann Grolle
27.03.2020, 6 p.m.
Sometimes it is worth checking the old one first when looking for a new active ingredient: Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG), a hundred-year-old vaccine against the lung disease tuberculosis (TB), is one such case. The preparation, which disappointed when used against TB, may now have a second career in the fight against the corona virus.

"It sounds paradoxical, but the chances that it will work are not bad," says Stefan Kaufmann from the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology in Berlin. He and his colleagues are ready to start experiments on humans. You want to test a genetically upgraded variant of the BCG vaccine for effectiveness against the novel coronavirus. The preparation is called VPM1002.

Unconventional ideas are also welcome in the fight against lung disease, and the regulatory authority has promised to rush to examine the plans of the Max Planck researchers. If everything goes according to plan, vaccine serum against tuberculosis could flow into the tissue of corona-endangered subjects for the first time in four weeks.

Unfortunately I can"t read the whole article. I have not paid for the online subscription of the magazine "Der Spiegel"

Let's hope there is something good to come out of this research.

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Lookout's picture

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

edg's picture

@Lookout @Lookout

The 1976 Swine Flu panic guides their actions. Back then, a vaccine was developed rapidly and a massive innoculation campaign was initiated. It turned out the vaccine was flawed. Only 1 person died of swine flu, but over 450 people developed Guillain-Barré syndrome from the vaccine.

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Lookout's picture

@edg

our tendency is to jump through our asshole at any emergency. Might be our nature but not really the best approach. What can you do. People are people.

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

Roy Blakeley's picture

thought to boost the innate immune system. As far as I can tell, there are no data yet specific for COVID-19. It would not make you immune to COVID-19 in the sense that you would not produce antibodies against the COVID-19 virus. However, it could, potentially, reduce the probability of infection and/or reduce the seriousness of infection. Interferon alpha 2b which is produced by Cuba and, in fact, by a lot of pharmaceutical companies also may reduce the seriousness of infection. Reducing the seriousness of infection is a big deal. If we can reduce its effects from a lethal disease to a bad flu, a lot of lives will be saved and a lot of disruption will be avoided.

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