Given the degree to which everyone's lives have been disrupted by COVID-19, there is great interest in when a vaccine will be developed. | pixabay
Given the degree to which everyone's lives have been disrupted by COVID-19, there is great interest in when a vaccine will be developed. | pixabay
Dr. Matthew Sims gave an update on "The Frank Beckmann Show" recently on how hospitals are handling COVID-19 as the pandemic progresses out of its beginning stages.
Smith, the director of infectious diseases at Belmont Hospital in Royal Oak, clarified whether the previous demand for COVID-19 treatments has died down as the hope for a vaccine becomes more tangible.
“I wouldn’t say they dissipated. Capacity is much better. And the hospital has sort of found a new norm right now, where we’re both dealing with business as usual and COVID,” Sims told Beckmann. “At the beginning of this, obviously, we kind of put business as usual on the back burner… just focused on COVID and emergency issues. Now, COVID is just part of what we do.”
He said initially, not many could foresee the impact COVID-19 would have on the area, and the country, including how many people would test positive for the disease.
As for how close medical professionals are to finding a cure or solidifying a vaccine, Smith said vaccines are a priority.
“A vaccine is much more of a prevention than a treatment. The goal is to stop people from getting it -- and that’s important. That’s what it’s really going to take to reopen the country, kind of get back to normal. There are more vaccines in development for COVID than I think for everything else combined right now. There’s a couple of hundred different COVID vaccines at various stages of development. There are probably between five and 10 that are way ahead of the pack, and those are ones that are going through clinical trials,” Sims told Beckmann.
He said that while other countries have discussed moving forward without going through the clinical trial process, that doesn’t align with the ethical standards of the United States. Sims said the key priorities for a COVID-19 vaccine are safety and effectiveness.
“I think there’s a good chance that one or more of them will work, but it’s going to take some more time before we get there,” Sims said during his conversation with Beckmann.
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