COVID-19 Vaccine Hunting Goes Hot Globally, Still No Guarantee

Washington-
Hundreds of people are sleeved in countries around the world to inject injections vaccine This could stop COVID-19, driving the hope (possibly unrealistic) that the end of the pandemic may arrive sooner than expected.

About 100 research groups are pursuing vaccine In the early stages of human trial, about 12 or ready to start. It’s a crowded field, but researchers say it only increases the chances that a few will overcome many of the remaining obstacles.

“We are not really in competition with each other. Dr Andrew Pollard, who leads the vaccine research at Oxford University, told The Associated Press.

The tricky truth: there is no way to predict if a vaccine will work safely.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the US Government’s chief expert, said: “In order to get the chance to get a safe and effective vaccine, we need more shots towards our goals.”

The first cautious test in March, when a small number of volunteers received injections to check for side effects, led to larger studies in China, the United States, and Europe to look for tips that various vaccine candidates really protect. .

Next: See if any of the vaccines work in the real world by testing a large group of people in areas where the virus is widespread — study participants are declining the virus Be careful if you are in a location or where you may be instructed to be at home—and find a quick way to distribute large numbers of successful candidates.

Policy makers are devising plans to try to overcome both obstacles in order to reduce the number of years it normally takes to develop a vaccine. “It’s possible in paper,” said Deborah Barks, coordinator of the White House Coronavirus Headquarters when asked if vaccines could be available by January. Whether we can do it, “she said.

Fauci warned that even if everything was completely successful, speed would be recorded in 12-18 months to develop a vaccine. January marks the first year since the National Institutes of Health began producing its own COVID-19 vaccine. Corporation

Multiple shots work in multiple ways

Depending on the counting method, there are 8 to 11 vaccine candidates in the early stages of testing in China, the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany. Last week, a collaboration between Pfizer and BioNTech launched a study in Germany that simultaneously tested four slightly different shots. More research sites will open in more countries. Between May and July, a smaller number of different vaccines will begin initial testing in humans.

There is no shortage of volunteers.

“This allows me to play a small role in the fight against this problem,” said Philadelphia’s 33-year-old who received the first test dose of the Inovio Offer Mathewicals DNA-based vaccine at the University of Pennsylvania last month. Said Anthony Kampisi. “I can be a guinea pig.”

The first vaccine candidate works in many ways. That’s important because one type fails and another doesn’t.

Depending on the type of virus, different types of vaccine are more effective than other viruses. But for coronaviruses, there is no blueprint. Animal experiments hinted at safety issues when scientists attempted to vaccinate SARS, a new viral cousin, in 2003, after which SARS disappeared and vaccine funding was depleted. A vaccine against another COVID-19 cousin named MERS has only reached the first-stage safety trials.

“By 20/20, we should have been working harder against coronavirus vaccines at the time,” said Dr. Stenvermand, Dean of Public Health at Yale. Now, “If you want quick results, you need to try different strategies.”

Pros and cons

Sinovac and SinoPharm of China are testing an “inactivated” vaccine made by propagating and killing a new coronavirus. The two companies barely reveal any information about the difference between the shots. But this technology is proven. Polioshot and some types of influenza vaccines are inactivated viruses, but they are difficult to scale up to quickly produce millions of doses.

Most other vaccines in the pipeline aim to train the immune system to recognize some of the new coronaviruses. It is mainly a protein with a sharp tip that pierces its outer surface.

One method: Use a harmless virus to carry spike proteins into the body. While easy to create, identifying the virus that is the most important “carrier” is a key issue. China’s Can Sino Biologics is designed to use the adenovirus that causes the common cold to make a vaccine that doesn’t spread to the body. Also, if people’s immune system fights against the cold virus before the vaccine works, the Oxford team at Pollard instead chose the adenovirus, which is usually chimpanzee-sensitive.

Alternate method: Inject part of the genetic code of the coronavirus. This causes the body itself to produce spike proteins that attack the immune system. This is a new, unproven technology, but one that promises faster production. The vaccine created by NIH and Moderna, Inovio Pharmaceuticals, and its Pfizer-BioNtech collaboration use a genetic code approach.

There are more ways to do this in the following lines: vaccines made with spiked protein nanoparticles, and even nasal sprays instead of shots.

Prove they are working

Most vaccine studies to date have followed safety and whether the blood of volunteers is immunoreactive. Some companies have quickly surged to large numbers, but there is still concern about whether they can prove the actual protection.

When study participants are trapped in their homes or live in places where the virus has spread rapidly, it’s rare for scientists to get sick to determine whether a vaccine or social distance protected them. There is none. For example, an Oxford study found that about 1,000 people were followed and half were given the actual vaccine. But the team is planning a late-stage study with an additional 5,000 volunteers to get the final answer, knowing they may need to move to another country.

“When you’re chasing a pandemic, what looks like the right place to go today will be the wrong place two weeks from now, and that’s really hard,” Pollard said. .

In the United States, some lawmakers have prompted another controversial experiment: a young healthy volunteer who agrees to knowingly infect the new coronavirus to prove if the vaccine protects them. We are looking for However, some healthy adults die of COVID-19. Until so-called doctors better understand why, the so-called “challenge study” creates dangerous propositions with serious ethical problems, said Bermand of Yale.

The World Health Organization last week sought to become a test site for an international project that speeds up timelines by approving rolling vaccines for promising vaccine candidates for further research where COVID-19 is still prevalent. I asked you to propose.

In the United States, the Trump administration is planning a unique project called Operation Warp Speed ​​that overlaps with the study of “various candidates with different practices and behaviors.”

If the initial evidence is strong enough and the virus is still widespread, the Food and Drug Administration may even consider urgent use of the vaccine before final test results, the FDA office overseeing the vaccine said. Directing Dr. Peter Marks recently told reporters.

Supply to the world

The identification of the first useful vaccine is not enough for everyone. Therefore, more and more vaccine manufacturers say they are already beginning to brew high doses — if you bet on the wrong candidate, you waste millions of dollars, but if your choice is successful, Reduce mass vaccination by months.

“We now need to start building a new manufacturing facility,” said Charlie Weller, Head of Vaccine at Welcome Trust. “And some of these sites have to accept that they will be created for vaccines that will eventually fail.”

It is not a bet for shareholders. The US government has already signed a deal with Moderna and Johnson & Johnson, which totaled about $ 1 billion, including production expansion.

“The first important thing is to make as much as possible,” Richard, CEO of the Alliance for Disease Control, funding several COVID-19 vaccine attempts around the world. Dr. Hatchet said.

Even if it works, policymakers will decide who needs the first dose most (probably health care workers and the elderly) until the world, rich countries and poor countries alike are just as good. So expect distribution early on.

“I’m worried about what I call vaccine nationalism. This is the obligation between elected leaders to protect the lives of their citizens and the obligation to share fairly on a global scale. Mr Hatchet said the relationship was tense.

And since there are billions of people that will need billions, or even a few times, only one winner of this race will not reduce it.

“It’s unlikely that one manufacturer or one candidate vaccine will be able to address and supply a global need,” Pollard said.

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The Associated Press Health Sciences Department is supported by the Science Education Department of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. AP is solely responsible for all content.

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