The latest statistics from Johns Hopkins University in the United States show that as of 20:27 on August 16, Beijing time, the total number of confirmed cases of new crown worldwide has exceeded 21.48 million, and the cumulative deaths have exceeded 771,000.

Recently, many countries have reported that the 2019-nCov has mutated.The Press Trust of India reported on the 15th that the research team in Orissa in eastern India sequenced 1,536 samples, and finally reported two new virus lineages in India for the first time and discovered 73 new variants of the 2019-nCov strain.Malaysian Health Ministry Director Nuer also said on the 16th that four D614G variant strains have been confirmed among the country’s existing confirmed cases of 2019-nCov pneumonia.

In this epidemic, how important is the repeatedly mentioned vaccine?

The development of vaccines is a difficult and time-consuming task. The development of vaccines needs to be evaluated in clinical practice to evaluate its efficacy and whether there are adverse reactions. These processes require longer practice.Moreover, the vaccine may also become invalid during the development process, because the 2019-nCov may produce corresponding mutations, and timely correction and development are needed at this time.

At present, the Minister of Health of Russia stated that Russia has become the first country in the world to register a COVID-19 vaccine.In addition, Russia’s COVID-19 vaccine officially started the first phase of clinical testing on June 18, and the third phase will start on August 12. Thousands of people will participate and will last for 5 months.

Such vaccine research and development are not only in Russia. Chen Wei, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and a researcher of the Academy of Military Sciences, led his team to enter Phase I and Phase II clinical trials, verifying the safety and immunogenicity of the vaccine.The Phase III international clinical trials of the vaccine are progressing in an orderly manner.

The development of vaccines requires time and accumulation of samples. Once successful, it will be a major progress in our fight against the epidemic.However, the vaccine is not currently on the market. The most important task for us ordinary people at present is to do a good job of epidemic prevention, insist on wearing masks and washing hands frequently to reduce the risk of 2019-nCov infection.