FIND A VACCINE—END THE PANDEMIC
A vaccine to prevent Covid-19 is our best hope for ending the pandemic, which has killed 400,000 people worldwide—112,000 in the U.S. alone—and infected 7 million people around the globe—2 million in the U.S.
Vaccines expose our bodies to an altered safe version of a disease-causing virus. This stimulates the body’s immune system to produce antibodies that will recognize and destroy the pathogen if it encounters it in the future.
Vaccines in use today are either live or inactivated. Live vaccines use a weakened (attenuated) form of the virus that causes the disease and prompts an immune response without causing sickness. Vaccinations with live forms are used to protect against chickenpox, measles and mumps. Inactivated vaccines use a killed version of the virus and cause an immune response but not an infection. Vaccinations with inactive forms are used to protect against flu, hepatitis A and rabies.
However, the methods used to bring to market live or inactivated vaccines are slow. Now, scientists are working to use genetic engineering to quickly develop a vaccine to combat Covid-19. This method maps a virus’s genetic sequence and then inserts a blueprint of these genes into human cells
Vaccine Timeline
Even genetically engineered vaccines must go through a rigorous protocol. First, a vaccine is tested in lab cultures and animals to see if it works and if it is safe. If this is successful, testing begins in humans. Phase 1 trials evaluate the vaccine’s safety, dosage and initial efficacy in a small number of people. In phase 2, the formulation and dosage are further tested for effectiveness in several hundred people. Finally, in phase 3 the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine are tested in tens of thousands of humans.
Dozens of companies and universities are rushing to create genetically engineered coronavirus vaccines. AstraZeneca and Moderna are two companies presently in the lead. (Moderna along with Johnson & Johnson have each received roughly half a billion dollars from the U.S. government to speed development of a vaccine.) I’ve found more information on Moderna’s vaccine, so I’ll discuss their progress.
Moderna’s vaccine uses a genetic material called messenger RNA that codes for the unique spike protein that studs the surface of the coronavirus. The vaccine, which Moderna terms mRNA-1273, delivers the messenger RNA to cells, which then follow the genetic instructions to create the virus protein which will mobilize the immune system to create antibodies to neutralize the pathogen. In other words, the body becomes a vaccine factory producing parts of the virus that trigger the immune system.
In their first tests on animals, Moderna vaccinated mice with mRNA-1273 vaccine and then exposed them to coronavirus. The vaccine protected the mice and prevented Covid-19 from multiplying in their lungs.
On May 18th the company reported that in their phase 1 trial eight healthy volunteers who each received two doses of its experimental vaccine had blood levels of virus-fighting antibodies that were similar or greater than those in recovered covid-19 patients. That suggests that it may trigger some level of immunity. (There were 45 total volunteers in this first phase, but only 8 have been reported on as far as I know.)
Now Moderna has begun a 600-person phase 2 trial to further test the effectiveness of the vaccine.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, says that phase 3 of Moderna’s experimental vaccine will begin in July and include study of 30,000 patients primarily between the ages of 18 and 55 but also will include older adult Americans. This will be what is termed a randomized controlled trial. (Researchers decide randomly as to which participants in the trial receive the new treatment and which receive a placebo.) Phase 3 is considered the final stage before potential approval by the F.D.A., and would make it available for patients across the country.
Coming Soon: Billions of Vaccine Doses
Interestingly: “We are going to start manufacturing [100 million] doses of the vaccine way before we even know if the vaccine works,” Dr. Fauci said of Moderna. “By early 2021, a “couple hundred million” more dosages will be available. Two shots, four weeks apart, are likely to be needed, meaning that however many doses are produced, only half that number of people can be vaccinated.
Pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca in the U.K. is also rushing testing on their Coronavirus vaccine, named AZD1222. Like Moderna it will begin manufacturing their vaccine before trials are finished. They’re aiming to produce 2 billion doses of vaccine, including 400 million for the U.S. and U.K. and 1 billion for those in low- and middle-income countries. It plans to start distributing the vaccine to the U.S. and U.K. in September or October, with the balance of deliveries likely to be made by early 2021.
Also, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation said it will build factories for seven different vaccines. “Even though we’ll end up picking at most two of them, we’re going to fund factories for all seven, just so that we don’t waste time,” Bill Gates said.
On the Other Hand
Pharmaceutical companies are moving at “pandemic speed” through trials. But there is widespread concern among scientists that haste could compromise safety. For instance, researchers won’t be infecting vaccinated volunteers with the coronavirus to see how the body behaves. They’ll probably need to wait until some of the participants contract the virus naturally or vaccinate family members of an infected person to see if they get the virus next. We could have rather mixed results.
Messenger RNA has been promoted as the most promising type of vaccine. Yet it has never yielded a human licensed vaccine. Even though this genetically engineered vaccine may make it through all the clinical trials (and less than 10 percent of drugs in general make it successfully through all three) it still must be approved by the F.D.A. This typically takes around a year. However this isn’t a typical situation and they could approve Moderna’s candidate or even several companies’ or universities’ vaccines much quicker. Hopefully, this haste won’t lead to later complications in portions of the population that receive it.
The vaccine also needs to provide long-term protection for possible second and third waves of Covid-19. Plus, even though older adults usually don’t respond to vaccines as well as younger people, folks older that 50 are at higher risk of severe coronavirus. An ideal vaccine also needs to work well for us seniors.
We all want a vaccine to succeed as the ultimate preventative against Covid-19. But first we must make sure that it’s safe and available to all populations.
NEWS I’ve begun making a series of YouTube videos. My channel name is Generation Fit! Senior Fitness and I’m covering the same topics as this Generation Fit blog.
Here are the 5 videos I’ve uploaded so far:
1) Senior Fitness in Coronavirus Time
2) Overcome Your Stumbling Blocks to Getting Fit
3) Yes, You Can Lose Weight AND Keep it Off
4) Why Functional Fitness is Important for Seniors
5) Outrunning Alzheimer’s