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The virus, which is similar in symptoms and makeup to SARS, originated at the end of December in Wuhan, where it has infected more than 300 people and killed 17.

Photo by STR / AFP via Getty Images

The Saskatchewan Health Authority has not indicated there is any significant risk of the virus reaching the province. Airports in Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal have put extra screening measures on incoming flights from affected regions in China.

On Wednesday, both Quebec and British Columbia announced they were also monitoring people for suspected cases of the virus.

Years to find a cure

Gerdts, whose centre specializes in finding vaccines to emerging diseases, says it will be years before a vaccine is complete, but the process could be significantly shortened by vaccine platform technologies, which would allow for multiple vaccines to be produced from a single system.

Presently, vaccine regulations require a “one bug, one drug” approach, meaning a vaccine has to be built from scratch for each new disease.

Gerdts said sometimes as much as 80 to 90 per cent of the work for each vaccine is the same. He said using platform technologies could shave months off the development process.

“For these emerging diseases, this is what everyone in the world is concerned about,” Gerdts said. “It takes too long. The disease comes up, spreads, you try to contain it as much as possible, and by the time you find a vaccine it may already be gone or it’s established itself.”

Vaccine platform technologies face many looming challenges. A 2019 study published by the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University notes manufacturing, regulatory and legal barriers need to be addressed before they can become mainstream. However, it also notes that such platforms could speed responses to new pandemics and save costs; today, developing a vaccine can cost as much as $1 billion U.S.

“While these technologies have important capacities for shortening development times, the magnitude is more likely to be in months not years,” reads part of the study’s conclusion.

“Vaccine platforms will, despite their unique attributes, be situated in a context of clinical safety and efficacy trials and regulatory agency compliance.”

zvescera@postmedia.com

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