Data acquired from the Finbold.com Coronavirus Research Index indicates that as of November 8th, 2020, 61.02% or 119 countries globally had their scientists involved in clinical studies around COVID-19. Elsewhere, only 76 or 38.97% of countries were not involved in any active study. The research also highlights the number of coronavirus-related active medical studies globally between May 2020 and August 2020. As of May, the number of studies stood at 1,141 while in August the figure rose to 2,450. As of November 2020, the number had spiked by 222.52% to 3,680 from May. Between August and November, the number increased by 35.02%.
More focus on COVID-19 vaccine
From the index, the US, France, UK are the top three countries leading the research into COVID-19. Notably, the countries are among the most impacted by the pandemic and have been leading the world in coming up with a new vaccine. However, the United States seems to be ahead after Pfizer announced that its COVID-19 vaccines are more than 90% successful. Most importantly, the focus has been on developing a potential vaccine for many studies. Vaccine development comes with several stages hence the long period in coming up with one. After the initial laboratory and animal tests, they enter the first phase of human trials and primarily analyze safety and immune responses. They later enter the second phase, which is the larger version of the first phase trials. The third stage is the most crucial phase where trials on human beings begin. On the road to coming up with a vaccine, some studies have been halted after showing a negative impact on participants. As the pandemic spread across the world, many countries increasingly jumped on the bandwagon of understanding the virus. Most of the studies seek to improve the management of the health crisis that tripled many countries.
Resources preventing countries from accelerating COVID-19 research
The studies are also meant to accelerate diagnosis, vaccines, and therapeutics for the virus. Most countries delayed launching studies due to inadequate resources. Furthermore, scientists did not have a blueprint for learning. In recent history, no pandemic of such magnitude has been experienced. As highlighted in the data, a significant number of countries are not participating in the coronavirus studies. Some of the countries lack the right human resource to undertake the process. In addition, some of the countries with less activity were not significantly impacted by the pandemic. More countries have been calling for the strengthening of research after deciding to understand the coronavirus. There have been concerted efforts on the part of governments, funders, and research institutions to put in place sustainable research systems. Despite different countries participating in the research on COVID- 19, it is worth mentioning that experts must gather together to provide collective intelligence insight to the direction of a post-coronavirus society.
