2025 is off to an absolutely stinker
A vaccine for the Black Death is in development amid fears the disease could make a horrifying return.
The news comes from the scientists who created the AstraZeneca Covid jab and intend on making a vaccine for the infamous Black Death.
The Black Death, also known as The Plague made landfall in Britain in 1348 after it had arrived in Europe by fleas hitching a ride on rats from Asia.
The disease was devastating with estimates that it killed between a third and a half of Britain’s population in the year that followed its arrival.
In cases that followed down the centuries, it is estimated more than 200 million have fallen victim to one of history’s most deadly and infamous diseases.
However, it’s 2025, we’re making medical breakthrough after breakthrough and have never known more, so surely it couldn’t come back, right?
Well, The Plague still exists in some corners of our planet and scientists fear it has “potential for pandemic spread” in the near future.
Last year, scientists at Porton Down’s Defence Science and Technology Laboratory highlighted the ever increasing issue of antimicrobial resistance that could lead to superbugs immune to regular antibiotics.
This has led to the team that created the Oxford AstraZeneca Covid vaccine announcing that they intend to nip a super-developed plague bug in the bud with a new Black Death vaccine.
A trial has already taken place on 40 healthy adults which helped prove this Black Death vaccine safe and effective.
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Professor Sir Andrew Pollard, director of AstraZeneca, said: “There are no licensed plague vaccines in the UK.
“Antibiotics are the only treatment. There are some licensed vaccines in Russia.
“The risk in the UK is currently very low. Previous historical pandemics that had high mortality were associated with initiation from fleas on rodents but were driven to person spread.”
Global experts plan on examining the results of these tests before further trials take place later down the line.
AstraZeneca were one of the first pharmaceutical company to announce it had developed a vaccine, along with Pfizer and Moderna.
It is estimated that the vaccine saved 6.3 million lives in the year it was first administered.
