HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WBRC) – The cure for COVID-19 could be just up the road literally. Researchers at Huntsville’s Hudson Alpha Institute are working to develop a treatment and eventually a vaccine for the illness.

Dr. Richard Myers with the Hudson Alpha Institute said, “The reason I am optimistic is because we have done this before, but for flu. In some cases they are injecting blood into patients who are sick.”

Dr. Myers has 40 years of experience in genetics.

Myers says it is all about the antibodies. The cells in your body that attack the virus. If you’ve been sick from COVID-19, you have them. Scientists will take those antibodies duplicate and mass produce them.

Myers said, “One of the things that happens is if you get the disease and recover from it you are almost sure to be immune. Just like the flu we get immunity to it.”

Dr. Myers believes COVID-19 could have been in the U.S. longer than first thought.

Myers said, “Any chance it could have been here earlier? I wouldn’t be surprised if it has been. These things often arrive in multiple places.”

In the meantime, scientists locally and around the globe are working quickly put an end to COVID-19.

Myers said, “We need science more than ever and we need to be ready for this because it will happen again and again.”