Mysore/Mysuru: Prof.  K.S. Rangappa, former Vice-Chancellor of University of Mysore and Karnataka State Open University, exuded confidence that a vaccine for COVID-19 will be available within two months.

Talking to reporters here this morning, Prof. Rangappa, who is also the Immediate Past General President of Indian Science Congress Association, Kolkata, said that human trial of various candidates is going in different parts of the globe. 

Over 6,000 people have undergone trial in Germany alone, he said adding that the ongoing Phase-II and Phase-III human trial is expected to bring fruitful results in next two months.  The cost of vaccine may be less than Rs. 2,000, he said.

 “Coronavirus is not deadly or dangerous as SARS or H1N1 but people need to be very careful. People with serious health complications like heart, uncontrolled diabetes, cancer and other diseases must be little careful. The Corona positive patients must not lose hopes or get scared as Indians have a good immunity power when compared to others. Protein structure of COVID-19 is totally different because of which there are problems in finding out vaccine for it. I think Coronavirus is not a  man-made virus,” the Chemistry Professor observed.

Prof. Rangappa said a team of scientists at Oxford University’s Jenner Institute and Oxford Vaccine Group has taken up the next step towards the discovery of a safe, effective and accessible vaccine against Coronavirus. Usually, it will take a minimum of two years to develop a vaccine but scientists across the world are working since last seven months to find out a vaccine for COVID-19 which has wreaked havoc in all countries. 

Thanks to food habits among Indians, the number of people dying due to complications after contracting Corona is less than international average. United Kingdom Research Institute was involved in developing vaccine depending upon ethnicity. Even Indian Company’s ‘Covaxin’ is also under the different stages of human trials at hospitals across the country, he said.

Research stopped

He said a Rs. 500 crore cancer research project between India and China has been stopped following the heightened tension between two countries in the last three to four months. The future of this project will depend upon developments in the coming months. “I will abide by whatever the Government of India will decide,” Prof. Rangappa, who is involved in the research, said. 

Nominated

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, has nominated Prof. Rangappa,  as Member of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) PGIEMR-Chandigarh;  AIIMS – Bhubaneswar; AIIMS – Bathinda; AIIMS – Guwahati and AIIMS -Srinagar for his contribution to the field of Biological Sciences and development of Science in India.

Prof. Rangappa has also been selected as CSIR-Emeritus Scientist by Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), New Delhi. CSIR is a premier scientific body that works under Human Resources Development Group (HRDG), Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India. 

CSIR recognises and promotes scientific research activities in the country. CSIR-ES scheme is launched to recognise and encourage the eminent and meritorious scientists who are above the age of 62. It is an honour to the University of Mysore to have CSIR-ES in the campus.