During the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, we have heard often from researchers and medical professionals that a vaccine to prevent the potentially deadly illness is 12 to 18 months away from being available to the public.
That timetable may or may not be an accurate estimate, but scientists at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine have developed a potential vaccine that has shown promise in laboratory mice.
The announcement last week from UPMC has been one of the few bright spots in corona-related news over the past month.
The so-called PittCoVacc — short for Pittsburgh Coronavirus Vaccine — is designed to deliver antibodies to the body to neutralize the virus.
The study’s co-senior author, Louis D. Falo, Jr, MD, PhD, is chairman of the Department of Dermatology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine appears on Wednesday’s Smart Talk to discuss this potentially revolutionary vaccine.
Also, WITF’s Transforming Health reporter Brett Sholtis is on Smart Talk to provide information on Pennsylvania’s growing need for ventilators to treat the most seriously ill COVID-19 patients. Like other states, Pennsylvania is wrestling with how to obtain the ventilators it could need.
Sholtis also is reporting on the plans that health systems across the state have submitted to the Pennsylvania Department of Health.
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