The COVID-19 virus has infected over two million people globally and caused almost 200,000 deaths.
Photo via Malay Mail
For now, there is no cure or vaccine for the virus, and the only way that people are dealing with the virus now is by practising social distancing and regularly washing their hands.
Researchers and doctors from all around the world are working tirelessly to find a vaccine for the virus, and now our very own doctor, Dr. Nur Amalina Che Bakri will also be joining the search.
Dr. Amalina, who is a UK-trained surgeon, recently shared on her Twitter page, that she had joined the team at the Imperial College in London in their efforts to develop a COVID-19 vaccine.
According to The Star, her role in the team is to find suitable volunteers to take part in the vaccine trials that is being conducted at the Imperial College’s National Institute of Health Research (NIHR).
“The first of the UK vaccine trials has started at the NIHR Imperial Clinical Research Facility led by Dr. Katrina Pollock. I’m involved in recruiting healthy volunteers and vaccinating them in the next few weeks,” said Dr. Amalina in her tweet.
“This is one of the 2 candidate vaccines that we will test at Imperial,” she added in a separate tweet, “Great effort from the Imperial team and very excited to see the outcome.”
According to an article by the Imperial College, the UK government has pledged to provide a £22.5 million (RM121.1million) grant to help fast track the college’s development of a vaccine.
The announcement was made by UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock, who said “in the long run, the best way to defeat COVID-19 is through a vaccine.”
We are super proud of Dr. Amalina for her role in finding a vaccine for COVID19! Good luck to the team, Malaysians will be supporting all her efforts from back home!
In the meantime, we must also play our part in containing the spread of the COVID-19 virus by staying at home and washing our hands regularly. Stay safe!
By: Aishah Akashah Ahadiat
