Ramaswami: What about vaccines? A number of vaccines are under development and will go into clinical trials soon. A new vaccine development platform using genetic engineering – messenger RNA’s or mRNA – is now ready for such trials. This route is faster than the traditional vaccine routes. But any vaccine would still have to go through a series of animal and human trials before it can be used as a preventive measure. The WHO’s chief scientist, Dr Soumya Swaminathan, in a press conference on February 11, stated that it would take at least 12 to 18 months for a vaccine to become available for wider use. In short, we will be ready with a vaccine for the next round of the disease, but not in this one.