This Chinese coronavirus has caused a global headache.
It’s as if the entire world is under “stay-at-home” and “social distancing” orders right now and nobody can confidently say when life will return to normalcy.
But we might have just gotten some good news about that because Tom Hanks may be the answer to the global coronavirus vaccine.
Tom Hanks is one of the most cherished movie stars America has ever offered. The two-time Academy Award winning actor – known for “Saving Private Ryan,” “Philadelphia” and “Forrest Gump” – announced a little over six weeks ago that he and his wife, Rita Wilson, contracted the Chinese coronavirus while on a movie shoot in Australia.
That day was March 11th, and just minutes after Hanks’ diagnosis became a global wakeup call, NBA All-Star and Utah Jazz center, Rudy Gobert, also tested positive for Covid-19.
This sent a shockwave through not only the NBA community and sports leagues, but also to the rest of the country that this disease had officially become an American problem — ultimately leading to commissioner Adam Silver postponing the conclusion of the regular season and the playoffs indefinitely.
March 11th marks the date when the American shutdown began.
Hanks and Wilson have successfully recovered from the Chinese coronavirus, but now we’re learning that the Hollywood power couple may be instrumental in finding a coronavirus vaccine because of the antibodies in their blood.
The famous actor said on NPR’s “Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me!” podcast, “A lot of the question is, what now? What do we do now? Is there something we can do? And, in fact, we just found out that we do carry the antibodies.”
Hanks added, “We have not only been approached, we have said, ‘Do you want our blood? Can we give plasma?’ And, in fact, we will be giving it now to the places that hope to work on what I would like to call the ‘Hank-cine.’”
“Hank-cine” sounds like something that might stick so long as his blood is instrumental in helping scientists develop a vaccine. We have been getting conflicting reports about the effects the Chinese coronavirus causes on the human body – particularly, the symptoms.
Some who have been diagnosed called Covid-19 the sickest they have ever been in their life, while others are completely asymptomatic and contagious without knowing it. That’s why stay-at-home and social distancing orders were implemented by the United States government.
The “Castaway” star also added, “Rita [Wilson] went through a tougher time than I did. She had a much higher fever and she had some other symptoms. She lost her sense of taste and smell. She got absolutely no joy from food for a better part of three weeks. She was so nauseous, she had to crawl on the floor from the bed to the facilities. It lasted a while.”
Every country seems to be developing their own vaccines, but American pharmaceutical companies have been working diligently on potential vaccinations that would use someone like Hanks’ antibodies to fight off the deadly disease.
In fact, some of these vaccines (before Hanks offered his blood) have already begun human trials, which is a huge first step in combatting this global threat.
Hanks also recently hosted “Saturday Night Live’s” first “SNL: Home Edition,” amid the stay-at-home orders. The actor regarded as “America’s Dad” was able to put the minds of millions of Americans at ease seeing him back to his usual self.
