COVID-19 is one of the biggest crises that the world is facing right now, a virus that is threatening the lives of millions of people worldwide. Everyday new confirmed cases are shown to appear in the public. For instance, South Korea had 300 new confirmed cases recently. Experts suggest that the only solution to this pandemic is a vaccine.

Many countries are now investing millions of dollars in making a cure. However, despite these efforts it still takes a lot of time to finish making the vaccine due to its complications. The first cause of the problem is the rapid mutation of the COVID-19 virus. The virus has a form that is difficult to make on its own in the natural world. COVID-19 has a protuberance so even if the confirmed patient is cured and looks healthy, many aftereffects remain.

Another reason is the side effect of the vaccine. Experts say it takes at least three years to make and test it. Once the vaccine is completed it will be used by many people, so none to minimal side effects are expected. There are three steps in creating this vaccine. They are called primary, secondary, and tertiary clinical trials.

Currently there are countries around the world that are currently working on making vaccines. Among them are the United States of America and Russia. The United States successfully ended their second clinical trial, so third clinical trial is still ongoing. Preliminary results may come out by September this year.

Surprisingly, Russia completed the vaccine in August 2020. The government says high-risk jobs are inoculated first, such as doctors and teachers. However, Russia did not properly announce the results of the second phase of their vaccine so some experts are questioning possible side effects. Experts say people around the world will use the vaccine as early as September next year.

L.L.F reporter Bo-Ra Park