On December 13, 2004 the first U.S. SARS vaccine trial began at NIH, tested in 10 healthy volunteers to be followed up for 32 weeks (appox. 8 months) [1]
Stated in a press release ““The Vaccine Research Center, a cutting-edge facility established here at NIH just five years ago, encompasses the entire spectrum of vaccine development from basic research to clinical testing,” says NIH Director Elias A. Zerhouni, M.D. “This is why our team at NIAID has been able to develop this vaccine at an unprecedented pace, using technological discoveries that were not available just a few short years ago.”
Dr Anthony Fauci stated: “Instead of using weakened or inactivated virus, which is typical for vaccine development, the new vaccine is composed of a small circular piece of DNA [plasmids] that encodes the viral spike protein. Scientists modified the DNA to minimize the risk of it combining with the SARS virus or other viruses of the SARS type, called coronaviruses….Scientists expect that the DNA will direct human cells to produce proteins very similar to the SARS spike protein. The immune system should recognize these proteins as foreign and then mount a defense against them. If the vaccinated person ever encounters the actual SARS virus, his or her immune system will be primed to neutralize it.”
By April 2003, NIAID-funded researchers in Hong Kong were the first to show that SARS is a viral disease. They soon proved that a newly emerging coronavirus causes SARS. By May, an international collaboration of researchers had decoded the genetic sequence of the SARS coronavirus, opening many avenues of research to develop diagnostic tests, therapies and vaccines.“