NMDA Journal Winter 2020-21

8 New Mexico Dental Journal, Winter 2020-21 Fighting COVID-19 Through Operation Warp Speed T he World Health Organization named the disease caused by SARS-CoV-2, a virus dis- covered in December 2019 out of Wuhan, China, COVID-19 from the abbreviation of CO (corona), VI (virus), D (disease), 19 (2019). The virus and her two infective sisters, MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV, are derived from bats, but the direct source has not yet been identified. Because of research done on the two sisters, we had a platform that jump started the research on therapeutic remedies and vac- cines for this present virus. Over 45 human trials and more on animals will provide a vaccine to give the world herd immunity against the virus. This immunity will occur when at least 70 percent of the popula- tion is immunized and/or infected (it takes 94 percent vaccinated/infected people to get herd immunity for measles). In the US, to reach this goal, 231 million must be vacci- nated/infected. However, only 64 percent have said that they would get the vaccination. Hence the US government has created Opera- tion Warp Speed (OWS) to mobilize and coor- dinate a partnership between government health agencies, the Departments of Defense and Energy and private firms to produce and deliver 300 million doses of free or low cost vaccines with initial doses distributed by Janu- ary 2021. Congress has directed over $10 billion for this effort through the CARES Act with $6.5 billion supporting countermeasure develop- ment through BARDA, Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, and $3 billion for the NIH, National Institute of Health, research. However, $11.539 million has been spent on the Warp-Speed-Funded Programs. HHS, Health and Human Services, awards the funds. Fourteen candidates have been chosen from over 100 vaccines currently in develop- ment, with some in government-supported clinical trials. This pool will be narrowed down to seven from a range of technology options (nucleic acid, viral vector, protein subunit) which will go through further early stage clini- cal testing. Then the most promising candi- dates will go through large-scale randomized trials. When they receive FDA approval, there will be a lot of shots given across the country. Over 45 human trials andmore on animalswill provideavaccine togive the worldherd immunity against the virus.