People who are worried about emerging diseases ranging from Ebola to Zika can rest assured, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports. Local researchers who gathered for the 6th annual Vaccine Development Center Conference on Infection Immunity and Vaccines say they're on it.
The Vaccine Development Center is a coalition of UTSA, the U.T. Health Science Center, Southwest Research Institute and the Texas Biomedical Research Institute which seeks to merge efforts to come up with vaccines for diseases, and to protect against the threat of bioterrorism.
Dr. Jean Patterson, a leading researcher at Texas Biomed say they have Ebola and Zika firmly in their sights.
"They are very close, both of them are very close to having vaccines," she said. "The question is, how effective will they be. So we are in the process of doing what we call 'down-select' so we can test the vaccines and see which will be the most effective for both Zika and Ebola."
She says within the next couple of years, a vaccine should be approved by the FDA which will allow immunization and treatment of both of those threats.
She says researchers are also making progress on long term threats like tuberculosis and HIV, as well as the emerging diseases like Zika.
Dr. Patterson says the goal of researchers is a 'vaccine for everything,' which is something she says is not impossible.
As the threat of bioterrorism, which is a major concern of the Department of Homeland Security and the Centers for Disease Control, Dr. Patterson says whatever ISIS comes up with, American scientists are ready.
"We pretty much know what the threats are that could be used," she said. "And we are pretty much prepared for using our national stockpiles to stockpiles vaccines or treatment in case any of these things should appear."