Since it will take months or even a year to develop vaccines against coronavirus, scientists are looking at alternatives.
One such approach involves using vaccines that have been developed for other purposes.
Many vaccines that have been developed to target polio or Tuberculosis are now being studied for potential use against COVID-19.
Whether such an approach works is not clear.
The idea is to prime the immune system and make COVID-19 less damaging to the body.
The World Health Organization strongly advises against using vaccines that are on the market until it’s proven effective against the coronavirus.
In a perspective piece published Thursday in the journal Science, Gallo and other experts from the Baltimore-based Global Virus Network outline the need to explore live polio vaccine for use against COVID-19.
Live vaccine means a weakened form of the live virus is used to induce the immune response.
The mechanism by which a vaccine that is not designed to target a specific disease works is not clear.
Can existing live vaccines prevent COVID-19?
By Konstantin Chumakov, Christine S. Benn, Peter Aaby, Shyamasundaran Kottilil, Robert Gallo
Science12 Jun 2020 : 1187-1188
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