British Scientist Sleeping For Just Two Hours A Night In Search For Coronavirus Vaccine

A scientist claims she is only sleeping for two hours a night as she tries to create a vaccine for the coronavirus.

Kate Broderick, from Scotland, and her team at pharmaceutical firm Inovio, based in San Diego, are working around the clock to stop the spread of the deadly illness.

Speaking to The Times, the 42-year-old says she feels a 'personal responsibility' to do her part and help prevent further deaths.

She said: 'I've spent my entire life working towards making a difference in an outbreak setting like this and I will do whatever it takes.

"I personally am averaging about two hours' sleep a night at the moment."

Inovio

Dr Broderick has spent the last 20 years of her life fighting some of the most deadly diseases to have hit the planet, including Ebola and Zika.

The Glasgow University graduate now hopes a vaccine for coronavirus will be ready to use in just four months.

She told The Herald: "From the time we got the DNA sequence for Zika to when we used it on our first patient was seven months, which was a record.

"For this outbreak, we are looking to get it in four months, which is almost half the time."

And though she and her team of experts are making progress, Dr Broderick says the pressure is mounting to find a solution to this global threat.

She went on: "We are going to start testing the vaccine this week on animals, the speed of which is really unprecedented.

PA

"This type of situation (working during an outbreak) makes you really not be able to sleep for weeks on end.

"We know people are dying from this virus. As a life scientist, all I trained to do is make an impact on population health.

"So yes, knowing that people are dying and becoming very ill while we are working on this vaccine absolutely affects how we are working and the speed at which we are working."

Yesterday Chinese media shared footage showing 20 people celebrating as they leave hospital after recovering from the illness.

An 11-second clip was shown on the state-run TV channel, purportedly showing former patients from the Jinyintan Hospital, in Wuhan, walking out the hospital after being discharged.

The people in the video can be seen celebrating and flashing peace signs to the gathered reporters, while wearing face masks.

Topics: Science, World News, Interesting, Coronavirus, Health

Dominic Smithers

Dominic graduated from the University of Leeds with a degree in French and History. Like you, Dom has often questioned how much use a second language has been. Well, after stints working at the Manchester Evening News, the Accrington Observer and the Macclesfield Express, along with never setting foot in France, he realised the answer is surprisingly little. But I guess, c'est la vie. Contact us at [email protected]

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