By the time I got myself and my parents tested for covid-19, the virus had pretty much spread everywhere. The covid vaccination that is being administered currently was still in the research phase, and all we could do was hole ourselves at home. So getting ourselves tested and finding that we are positive would have been a nightmare, but we still did it.
So after about a few days, I got an SMS with my result, and the dread continued to build up. I hadn’t even opened my phone yet. I just stared at the notification on the screen, thinking to myself, “This is it. If it’s positive, I am sure to die, and I am still 25.” And then another even worse thought came into my head, which was, what if my parents are the positive ones. During that time, the ones in more danger of dying were those above 50 years old.
Even though none of us received that dreadful positive result message, we didn’t feel lucky. Since plenty of people we knew did get it and have since perished. It has been around two years since the outbreak of covid-19 has reached pandemic status. Nonetheless, we would all like to see the world go back to how it was before, as I am sure you feel the same.
Fight Coronavirus: But How?
For that to happen, we need a viable cure. On which many of the world’s scientists are working at night and day. Thanks to this, we do some good news but also some bad news. But this isn’t anything new for many of us since this has been the way since the start of this pandemic.
On the bad news side, I have to say that a proper cure isn’t coming to many of us by the end of this year. The main reason for that is a cure means permanent result; the active mutation of the virus makes it hard to pin down. Scientists are working hard to get ahead of the virus and block its path, but it will take time. However, what can be done is preventing healthy people from getting it or slowing down the virus during that time. But we can talk about that later since we are focused on the progression of the coronavirus cure.
Options Open on Covid-19 Cure:
According to Bayer, a global enterprise in health care and agriculture, there are three viable options in finding a cure. First, you have the option that will take the longest, which makes a cure from scratch. Secondly, scientists make antibodies that can fight the virus in the short term, which is currently the vaccine. And finally, what many are looking for is an existing drug that can be repurposed to cure the coronavirus.
Sadly each of these so-called viable options has either limited effectiveness or requires a long time before you can use them. As of right now, the form of cure that many are agreeing on for having the best chance of success is an antiviral pill.
What is an Antiviral Pill?
For those that don’t know, antiviral medicine isn’t that uncommon. This type of medicine is quite common and essential for other viral infectious diseases such as hepatitis C and HIV. For example, a well-known antiviral pill is Tamiflu which reduces the duration of influenza and the risk of hospitalization if given quickly.
Timothy Sheahan, a virologist at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, had this to say to CNN about what antivirals can do to coronavirus one.
“Oral antivirals have the potential to not only curtail the duration of one’s covid-19 syndrome, but also have the potential to limit transmission to people in your household if you are sick.”
Choices for Coronavirus Cure:
As of September 2021, three antivirals are being researched with the potential of mass production by the end of the year. This was a statement given by Carl Dieffenbach, director of the Division of AIDS at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
Number one on the list of these three potential cures is a medicine from Merck & Co. and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics named Molnupiravi. Numbers two and three are from Pfizer called PF-07321332 and AT-527, an antiviral by Roche and Atea Pharmaceuticals.
From my understanding, they are working by disrupting the coronavirus’s ability to clone themselves in human cells. While these three are undergoing the test phases, one antiviral medicine has gotten approval for treating covid called Remdesivir. But through injection it is patients that are to be hospitalized.
The ones that are going through testing can be mass-produced in pill form, and this may have to be taken once a day for about five to ten days after first showing symptoms.
The lack of more testing and research is that there is a lack of funding. Therefore only a few companies can spend both money and resources looking for a permanent cure to coronavirus.
Moving Towards the Future
So what needs to be done right now is to urge the policymaker to increase both fundings. To allow for more people to take the cause of finding a coronavirus cure. Yet more and more people are getting into the research regardless and are making new findings. Such as a medicine for reducing the likelihood of you passing on your infection to others.
Wouldn’t that be something? In a few short months up to a year, we would finally get back to everyday life.
By Syed Moazzim Hossain
