Swiss research teams are making headway in efforts to develop a coronavirus vaccine.

The Department of Immunology at the University Hospital in Bern has been working on a vaccine since January. Initial sequences of the virus were quickly isolated. The basis for the vaccine is a genetically manipulated virus that infects cucumbers and colours them yellow. It has already been tested on animals. 

The head of the department, Martin Bachmann, is now calling for a simplified approval procedure to allow the vaccine to be produced as quickly as possible. 

Meanwhile, Peter Burkhard, an immunologist with a private laboratory in canton Basel City, has also developed a precursor of the Covid-19 vaccine, which has been tested on animals and he is now testing on himself. He hopes this will speed up the certification process.

His SAPN vaccine uses the same concept as for a malaria vaccine that his company has been working on over the last few years.