Coronavirus milestone: CSIRO starts testing vaccines

CSIRO, Australia’s well-respected national science agency, has commenced the first stage of testing on potential vaccines for Covid-19.

The CSIRO says the testing is expected to take three months and is underway at its high-containment biosecurity facility, the Australian Animal Health Laboratory (AAHL), in Geelong, Victoria. The trials come as Australia’s number of confirmed Covid-19 cases reached 4,860 and the death toll rose to 23, on Thursday.

Researchers at CSIRO last month began studying the course of infection in ferrets to help understand whether a vaccine could work. They had established that the animals reacted to the virus.

Meanwhile, CSIRO researchers also confirmed, after studying SARS CoV-2’s (the virus that causes Covid-19) genomic sequence that the coronavirus is changing into a number of distinct ‘clusters’ and are now starting to look at how this may impact on the development of a vaccine.

CSIRO has partnered with the  Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), a global group that aims to derail epidemics by speeding up the development of vaccines.

In consultation with the World Health Organization (WHO), the coalition has identified vaccine candidates from The University of Oxford and Inovio Pharmaceuticals in New York to undergo the first pre-clinical trials at CSIRO, with further candidates likely to follow.

CSIRO chief executive Larry Marshall said the start of the vaccine was a “critical milestone” in the fight against the new coronavirus.

“Beginning vaccine candidate testing at CSIRO is a critical milestone in the fight against Covid-19, made possible by collaboration both within Australia and across the globe,” Marshall said.

“CSIRO researchers are working around-the-clock to combat this disease which is affecting so many — whether it’s at the Australian Animal Health Laboratory (AAHL) or at our state-of-the-art biologics manufacturing facility — we will keep working until this viral enemy is defeated.”

CSIRO says it’s testing the Covid-19 vaccine candidates for effectiveness, but also evaluating the best way to give the vaccine for better protection, including an intra-muscular injection and innovative approaches like a nasal spray.

Professor Trevor Drew, who leads CSIRO’s Covid-19 vaccination research, says CSIRO has been studying the new coronavirus since January.

“We have been studying SARS CoV-2 since January and getting ready to test the first vaccine candidates as soon as they are available. We are carefully balancing operating at speed with the critical need for safety in response to this global public health emergency.”