The story of a pandemic foretold: Focus on the covid-19 vaccine

ABSTRACT

In November 2002, cases of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) appeared in Canton and later in Guangzhou, Beijing, Hanoi, Vietnam, Hong Kong and other cities in Southeast Asia. In 2012, 10 years after the SARS episode, another coronavirus respiratory syndrome developed in the Middle East and South Korea from Saudi Arabia. At the end of 2019, it was again "far from home" that a new episode in the evolution of coronaviruses took place. The ability of SARS coronaviruses to cross the species barrier is a major factor in the amplification of viral pathogens from host species to intermediate species and then to humans. Despite the 2002-2003 SARS episode, there is still no vaccine against SARS-CoV-1. Collectively, national and international health policy and research bodies ignored previous warnings. Covid-19 is still rampant in many countries as we enter the year 2021. © ISTE Ltd 2022.