03-21-2020, 11:59 AM
(03-21-2020, 11:46 AM)tomh009 Wrote:(03-20-2020, 10:28 PM)jeffster Wrote: However, restrictions could end abruptly when a successful (or successful enough) vaccine is created - so we could be talking 4 months at the very least or 18 months at the most probably.
No way to get a vaccine in four months. If they get lucky and super-accelerate the approval process, maybe the end of the year at best, more likely next year.
What could be possible is that an existing medicine (hydroxychloroquine, for example) is confirmed as effective (and side effects as acceptable) in the near term, maybe 3-6 months. This could help the treatments and reduce the healthcare system overload. But this, too, is still uncertain.
The talk of chloroquine has me remembering the time, almost 40 years ago now, when I was living abroad and required to take it for malaria prevention. I managed to stay on it for a number of months, but the side effects were bad enough that I eventually stopped taking it an just took my chances. I gather that the possible use against covid-19, if there turns out to be any validity to it, would be for much shorter periods so maybe not an issue.