COVID-19 vaccine

I’d like to dedicate the last blog to a brief outline of the COVID-19 vaccine development progress. While there are countless parties attempting (such as the overambitious project proposed by Czech ministry of health, immediately denounced by a majority of scientific community), there are a few research teams that are already relatively close. I may be slightly biased, since we fall under the same Future Vaccine and Manufacturing Hub, but I believe that the first viable vaccine will come from Oxford’s Jenner Institute.

The team, led by professor Sarah Gilbert, has already identified a vaccine candidate -   a vector based on a Adenovirus, more specifically a strain commonly infecting chimpanzees with a working name ChAdOx (i.e. Chimpanzee Adenovirus Oxford). Somewhat counterintuitively, recombinant viruses are becoming a promising platform for vaccine development and production. In the process, parts of the genome responsible for virus replication or immune avoidance are removed - the modified viral vector cannot spread or cause a disease and serves only as a “delivery vehicle” for a “therapeutic gene”. The therapeutic gene, artificially inserted into the viral vector, encodes a protein specific to the pathogen or disease of interest (e.g., COVID-19). Following the inoculation, the modified virus infects target patient cells and the disease-specific protein is expressed, triggering a response of the immune system. Ultimately, this leads to the generation of the desired, long-term, protective immunity against the chosen pathogen in the vaccine's recipient.

Once fine-tuned, the underlying viral vector can be reused to some extent, by altering or changing the aforementioned therapeutic gene, coding for a disease-specific antigen. This universality allows for the vaccine design and manufacturing processes to be reemployed in multiple different diseases, making the system well suited for a quick response to emerging outbreaks. On top of the exceptional know-how and many years of expertise, the Oxford Vaccine Group was able to gain a significant head-start in a search for a COVID-19 vaccine candidate, also because the safety and efficiency of the aforementioned ChAdOx viral vectors, was already tested in a vaccine against MERS (Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome). As the disease is caused by a coronavirus closely related to SARS-CoV-2 (causative agent behind the COVID-19), the team was able to quickly move to later stages of clinical testing.

Overall, the immense contribution of the British scientific community has helped to shape the global response to the COVID-19 pandemics. Sadly, the briliant work of the many UK scientists has been overshadowed by the complete inadequacy of the British government. By refusing to listen to the experts and prioritising own political agenda during the outbreak, Boris Johnson and his cabinet are largely to blame for  UK’s soaring COVID-19 death-toll, by far the highest of all European countries. With the official estimates stating that approximately half of all the deaths could have been prevented by earlier introduction of the safety measures, the government should be held accountable for the countless lives, needlessly lost to the virus. 

On a more positive note, the Jenner Institute has recently signed a deal with a pharmaceutical giant Astra Zeneca. If the safety and efficiency tests currently underway go according to the plan, the collaboration should result in a production of the first hundred milion doses of the novel vaccine before the end of 2020.

 

 

 

 

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