So far in Costa Rica we have had 35 confirmed cases of COVID-19, and we were the first Central American country to report the coronavirus, brought in by an American tourist couple. We have had no deaths so far (unlike Panama), but are ramping up for a possible tsunami of COVID-19 cases in the coming weeks. Does Canada have a coronavirus vaccine being developed today?

Worldwide, COVID-19 has sickened more than 167,500 people, killing about 6,455. But Canada may offer help soon via the Laval University’s Infectious Disease Research Center. The head of that center is Dr. Gary Kobinger who helped develop a highly successful vaccine for the Ebola virus. He is working now to develop antibodies against SARS-CoV-2, the pathogen that causes COVID-19.

The WHO has declared it a pandemic and the US has declared COVID-19 a National Emergency. Canada has 249 confirmed cases, including the prime minister’s wife Sophie Gregoire Trudeau. Canada has had some wonderful successes creating vaccines quickly, although after 17 years, there has not been a vaccine developed for the SARS outbreak.

Canada now claims to have developed a COVID-19 vaccine candidate that could possibly begin human testing as early as this summer. Quebec City-based Medicago, the creators of the new vaccine, believe they can begin human trials as soon as this August, with vaccines available to the public by November, 2021.

Medicago claims they will be able to produce as many as 10 million doses a month out of their North Carolina plant, once the vaccine has been approved. The biopharmaceutical company credits the speed of the development of the new vaccine to the fact that they used a plant-based platform rather than chicken embryos to grow the vaccine proteins.
Medicago said, “The hope is that we’ll be able to create the antibodies that as soon as the virus gets into our bodies, it covers it, so it can no longer infect our cells.”

Globally, another 20 or so vaccine candidates are being tested currently, including by Johnson & Johnson, France’s Sanofi SA, and others. China has already begun human testing, with two US companies very close behind. The World Health Organization (WHO) continues to predict that a vaccine against the COVID-19 will not be widely available for 12-18 months, and that is an optimistic prediction.

On March 11, Costa Rican Minister of Health Daniel Salas announced to the press that they will no longer report suspected cases of COVID-19, because “The number of suspected cases already exceeds the testing capacity of Costa Rica’s national lab.”

With the timeline until a vaccine for the coronavirus now clearly spelled out, “Wash your hands like you just chopped jalapeno peppers before taking out your contact lenses.” That is the advice of an American research doctor on holiday in Costa Rica this week

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