Galway man involved in search for Covid-19 vaccine predicts it will take 'a year or more'

Galway man Gordon Joyce, Chief of Structural Biology at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in Washington DC, is at the forefront of the work being done across the world to find a vaccine for coronavirus.

Galway man Gordon Joyce, who grew up in Moycullen, is at the forefront of the work being done across the world to find a vaccine for coronavirus.

Dr Joyce told Iris Aniar on RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta this week that he is now the Chief of Structural Biology at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in Washington DC.

He also explained that the group he heads up has spent years researching other viruses such as HIV and Ebola, but they are now focused entirely on Covid-19.

Dr Joyce said: “There are one hundred groups across the world working on a vaccine, and some clinical trials have started. We don’t know yet which vaccine might work, but we need a vaccine that’s safe and gives immunity.”

We know the vaccine has worked in animals, but we don’t know yet if it gives immunity in people.

"There’s a vaccine here in the US and another in China. When the results of the trials come back, we can see then if it’s effective, and go on then to mass production, but we don’t know as yet.”

Dr Joyce - whose father, Michael Joyce, is from Leitir Mealláin in Connemara - said that developing the vaccine would take time but couldn’t specify how long.

He said: “That’s a difficult question, we don’t know yet. We’ve been working here for three months on the vaccine. There are groups across the world working on it.

"A year or more probably. In normal times, developing a vaccine can take five or 10 years... but with Covid-19, I think it will be more rapid.”

Dr Joyce described the huge collective effort, and the collaborative nature of the work.

He explained: “There are normally 10 or 20 people in my group, but now there are 200 people from the institute all working on developing the vaccine.

"But we’re not working in isolation. We’re talking to health institutes and pharmaceutical companies every day, sharing information, with phone calls at 11pm and 4am sometimes, talking every day.”

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