Coronavirus cure: Why a drug treatment is as important as a vaccine

One of Australia’s most decorated experts has urged the medical community to focus on both a vaccine and drug treatment

While most public attention is focused on the search for a much-needed vaccine, Laureate Professor Peter Doherty Immunologist, a Nobel Prize-winning immunologist, told Neil Mitchell a drug was also a top priority, especially for the vulnerable older community.

“Vaccines don’t work as well in elderly people, our immune systems fail with age,” he said on 3AW.

“There are concerns about vaccines ever working that well in all the elderly, which is why we really need to push on as fast as possible with anti-viral drug development that can be used for treatment – or prevention as well, you can take the drug ahead of time.

“We need to push on both (vaccine and drug treatment).”

Asked how likely it was that a vaccine would emerge: “It’s pretty certain in my mind.”

Click PLAY for the full interview