Israeli scientists say weeks away from coronavirus vaccine

MIGAL is working to achieve safety approvals that will enable preclinical testing

A group of Israeli researchers at the Galilee Research Institute (MIGAL) are close to developing a coronavirus vaccine that could be ready in three weeks and available within 90 days, according to Israeli Minister of Science and Technology Ofir Akunis.

The research team has already created a vaccine against avian Coronavirus Infectious Bronchitis Virus (IBV), and are adapting it to create a human vaccine against Coronavirus (COVID-19), according to The Jewish Press.

The MIGAL research revealed that the genetics of the poultry coronavirus are highly similar to the coronavirus found in humans, and that it uses the same infection mechanism.

“Congratulations to MIGAL on this exciting breakthrough. I am confident that there will be further rapid progress, enabling us to provide a needed response to the grave global COVID-19 threat,” Akunis said, according to Jpost.

MIGAL is a research organization located in the Galilee specializing in the fields of biotechnology, environmental sciences and agriculture.

The CEO of MIGAL, David Zigdon, said in a press conference that “given the urgent global need for a human Coronavirus vaccine, we are doing everything we can to accelerate development. Our goal is to produce the vaccine during the next 8-10 weeks, and to achieve safety approval in 90 days.”

“The vaccine developed by us for poultry is administered orally and the human vaccine offered by us is also expected to be administered orally,” he added.

MIGAL is working to achieve safety approvals that will enable preclinical testing.