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Will AI Create the Coronavirus Vaccine?
As the COVID-19 pandemic is , a few of you may be wondering whether AI can help create a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine. () After all, AI is magic, right? Or, at least, this is a rather promising and very hot area of applied AI research, with , including several who have either discovered new compounds or .
And yes, AI is being used in connection with COVID-19 and SARS-CoV-2: from (which attaches to and infects human cells) to the virus to of virtual molecules with the desired characteristics for the development of a drug to treat it.
AI and machine learning are also being used to:
- COVID-19
- Track the spread of the virus
- And many other things
Will we see a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine created with the help of AI technologies? It remains to be seen. The challenges do not seem to be with the AI tech, or at least not with the discovery side. Some experts say that the . The challenge lies with the regulatory and manufacturing side.
First, the vaccine will need to get through clinical trials, which is a long process. Even an accelerated process .
Also, millions of doses of the vaccine will be needed, and there is currently no established manufacturing process that could be adopted for the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine because 鈥渢here are no vaccines on the market for any coronavirus, not even SARS or MERS 鈥� If this were the flu, manufacturing could be more easily spun up because the technology is in place to mass-produce the annual flu vaccine,鈥�
Our Take
So for now, wash your hands, maintain social distancing, monitor announcements by the health authorities in your area, ensure you have sufficient supplies for a few weeks if you need to stay at home, and don鈥檛 panic. , predicts The Atlantic, but it will not be deadly. (The impact on the economy is entirely another matter, and your analyst wonders about the long term impacts on privacy and human rights as this epidemic .)
For an entertaining and informative take on the coronavirus, watch of John Oliver鈥檚 Last Week Tonight show. To prepare your business for the pandemic, visit Info-Tech鈥檚 COVID-19 Resource Center.
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