Malaysia is a nation that has produced its fine share of well-known and talented people who are leaders in their fields.
Though Prof Suresh Mahaligam may not be a household name just yet, he is however, doing remarkable things today as he leads a team of researchers at Griffith University, Australia in an effort to develop a vaccine for Covid-19.
The Malaysian-born immunologist said that the vaccine his team is developing would be “Live-attenuated” – meaning it is a vaccine created to reduce the virulence of a pathogen, but still keeping it viable, altering it to become harmless.
He added that the vaccine will be highly effective, providing strong cellular and antibody immune responses against the virus.
“It will mimic the infection of the real virus but cannot cause disease.”
“And what’s really fantastic about this vaccine is that it can induce all arms of the immune response.”
Speaking to The Star, the KL born prof said that the vaccine has a proven record of mass production and is currently at the preclinical stage.
“We hope to commence human trials as soon as possible.”
“We expect, if approved, that this vaccine may reach the market sometime in late 2021.”
This is not a first time thing for Prof Suresh’s lab, as they were responsible for the development of vaccines for chikungunya and Zika viruses.
Wow!
Talking about his biggest challenge in developing the Covid-19 vaccine, Prof Suresh said that identifying the best approach to take was his team’s biggest challenge.
“One method of vaccine production doesn’t necessarily work for all types of diseases.”
“It’s important to consider the endpoint of a vaccine when embarking on such an endeavour. Many vaccines do not make it to final production due to the approach taken.”
Let’s hope that the vaccine will commence as scheduled to ensure that citizens of the world are able to live Covid-19 free lives in the near future.
Also read: Malaysian Doctor Joins Forces With Research Team In London To Find Vaccine For Covid-19
