Here’s Exactly Where We Are with Vaccines and Treatments for COVID-19

• Scientists around the world are working on potential treatments and vaccines for the new coronavirus disease known as COVID-19.
• Several companies are working on antiviral drugs, some of which are already in use against other illnesses, to treat people who have COVID-19.
• Other companies are working on vaccines that could be used as a preventive measure against the disease.

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With confirmed COVID-19 cases in the United States surpassing 9.4 million and continuing to grow, scientists are pushing forward with efforts to develop vaccines and treatments to slow the pandemic and lessen the disease’s damage.

On Oct. 22, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) gave the go-ahead to Veklury (remdesivir), the first drug approved for the treatment of COVID-19. It is intended for use in adults and children 12 years and older.

The agency has also issued emergency use authorizations (EUAs) for several other treatments, including convalescent plasma therapy, a drug used to sedate people placed on a ventilator, and two drugs for people undergoing a type of blood purification known as continuous renal replacement therapy.

An EUA allows doctors to use these drugs to treat people even before the medications have gone through the formal FDA approval process.

No vaccine that protects against SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, has received emergency use authorization or full approval in the United States. However, some countries have granted limited or early approval to certain vaccines.

Over the coming months, we may see additional drugs approved as COVID-19 treatments, depending on the outcome of clinical trials.

Experts also expect that a COVID-19 vaccine might be available in spring or summer 2021, although certain high-risk groups may have access to a vaccine earlier.

As we wait for additional treatments and a possible vaccine, there are still other tools we can use to protect ourselves and others from the new coronavirus.

“Even though technological advances allow us to do certain things more quickly, we still have to rely on social distancing, contact tracing, self-isolation, and other measures,” Dr. Bruce Y. Lee, a professor at the CUNY Graduate School of Public Health & Health Policy, told Healthline.