A Zika Vaccine Is On The Horizon

Normally vaccines take years to produce, and then a particular vaccine must be properly tested and licensed. However, researchers attempting to develop a vaccine for Zika say that a vaccine could be on the market sooner than normal.

A mere ten months after US government politicians convened to discuss how Zika should be funded, researchers have already started testing three different experimental Zika vaccines. The vaccines are being tested on human subjects infected with Zika. Another four of five trials to test vaccines for Zika will likely occur between the start of 2017 and the following fall. The current best-case scenario is to have an emergency vaccine available within a couple of years from now. The goal of the US government is to have a fully licensed and effective Zika vaccine by 2020. The only worry researchers and lawmakers have regarding the quick production of a vaccine is that by 2020 people will not buy it, as it is possible that people will not longer be worried about contracting the virus. However, this would not necessarily be a negative outcome for consumers.

Do you think the Zika virus will become another major pathogen that will infect mass amounts of people, like Rubella, or will Zika die out and meet a fate similar to that of the west nile virus?