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We know there will be a second wave of COVID-19. And it’s likely to hit us before the end of this calendar year. We also know that some countries, like Canada, have managed to crush the curve. Still, there are regions of the world where the curve continues to rise – particularly in Brazil, India and the United States. So, the daily news can be exhausting at best and grim when we consider the worst case scenarios. But there is some reason for optimism. Four months into the pandemic and more than 6 months after this strain of the coronavirus was first detected in China, the World Health Organization says there are currently 147 COVID-19 vaccines in development. At least 17 are now into the human trial phase. One of them is being developed in Australia. Professor Nikolai Petrovsky is the Chairman of the company called VAXINE Pty.  He says their results to date are more than promising.

Some good news, if not great news, on the research front. There are 147 COVID-19 vaccines in development and 17 of them are into the human trials. Professor Nikolai Petrovsky is the chairman of VAXINE – an Australian based company that is undertaking an international effort to develop a COVID 19 vaccine.  He and his team started human trials on July 1st, 2020

The past few episodes of the NEXT NORMAL have focused on the SECOND WAVE of the COVID pandemic – likely to hit us in the next 4 of 5 months.   While there’s still a lot we don’t know about this strain of the coronavirus, we have learned a lot since it was detected in December of last year.   Much of that knowledge has come from an historic and piercing international scientific focus on COVID-19. There are hundreds of efforts underway to develop a vaccine and we know that some are well on their way towards human trials.   But there has also been a great deal of research being done on pharmaceutical treatments that don’t immunize us but could help mitigate and minimize the symptoms and effects of COVID-19.   A Halifax-based firm is doing just that. Appili Therapeutics is an infectious disease company that tests drugs currently in use to fight other diseases to see if they have any effect on COVID-19.   It sounds like they’ve found one.   Dr. Armand Balboni is the CEO of Appili Therapeutics. He says they are moving into phase two of trials to evaluate the drug called favipiravir as a preventative treatment against the coronavirus. And they are targeting a very specific – at risk demographic.