Coronavirus: Covid-19 vaccine fit come from India?

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo bin tok two weeks ago say India and di US dey work togeda to develop vaccines wey go fight against coronavirus.

Oga Pompeo tok no be surprise.

Di kontries don dey run joinbodi of vaccine development wey get international recognition for more than 30 years now.

Dem don work to stop different diseases like dengue, enteric diseases, influenza and TB.

India dey among di largest manufacturer of plenty melecine and vaccines for world.

As e be so, six Indian firms dey develop vaccines against di virus wey dey cause Covid-19.

One of dem na Serum Institute of India, di largest vaccine maker for world.

Di company dey supply around 20 vaccines to 165 kontries. Dem dey export about 80% of dia vaccines and e dey among di cheapest for world as dem dey sell am at average of 50 cents per dose.

Now di firm don collabo wit Codagenix, one American biotech company to develop vaccine.

"We dey plan to test di vaccine on animals for April. By September, we suppose don redi to begin test am on human beings," Adar Poonawalla, chief executive officer of Serum Institute of India tok.

Oga Poonawalla company don also collabo to do mass production of one vaccine wey di University of Oxford dey develop wit backing from UK goment. Clinical trials wit human beings bin start on Thursday, April 23 for Oxford. If evritin go well, scientist dey hope to make at least one million doses by September.

"E dey clear say di world go need hundreds of millions of doses by di end of dis year to end dis pandemic wey go comot us from di lockdown," Prof Adrian Hill, wey dey run Jenner Institute for Oxford tell BBC Health and Science correspondent James Gallagher.

Dis na wia India take get advantage pass odas. Oga Poonawalla firm alone get extra capacity to produce 400 to 500 million doses.

More still dey. Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech bin announce collabo wit di University of Wisconsin Madison and US company FluGen to produce almost 300 million doses of vaccine wey dem go distribute globally. Zydus Cadilla dey work on two vaccines, while Biological E, Indian Immunologicals, and Mynvax dey develop vaccine each. Anoda four or five vaccines also dey early stage of development.

"Di credit must go to entrepreneurs and pharmaceutical companies wey invest for quality manufacturing and systems wey fit make am possible to produce in bulk. Di owners of dis companies don also get goal to do good for di world as dem dey run ogbonge business and dis model na win-win for evribodi," Soumya Swainathan, chief scientist of di World Health Organization tok.

Sabi pipo dey sama warning say make pipo no expect any vaccine for market any time soon.

David Nabarro, professor of global health at Imperial College, London, say human beings go need to live wit di threat of coronavirus for di nearest future because no guarantee dey say anybody go fit develop any vaccine for di disease.

Covid-19 infections for di world don already pass 2.5 million wit more dan 177,000 deaths. To develop vaccine wey dey safe go take time. "But we dey hopeful say we go fit develop safe vaccine wey fit fight di virus in two years time or less," oga Poonawalla tok.