Monkeys and BoJo

Monkeys and BoJo: What’s happening with our vaccine?

Headlining the news, covering the web, slipping into BoJo’s speeches; vaccines have taken an omnipresent stage in this changing world. The key to unlocking lockdown, lifting this sedentary curse and clicking the play button to start-up the world again, is overridden, essentially, by finding a safe and effective vaccine. We are controlled by its absence, but the elusive remedy is much closer than one might think. The virus is its own worst enemy and holds the information required for its own elimination. Ironically, the cure to all this disorder comes from the progenitor itself – the only difficulty is in collecting the bits we need to make sure it ultimately works.

Currently, there are +90 groups delving into the RNA of corona, with many different methods of establishing a vaccine. There are those using inactivated forms of the actual virus, a tried and tested approach, viral-vector methods, using other viruses as vectors to transfer the corona RNA safely into our cells, and ones which would prompt our own cells to churn out the infamous spike proteins. All these vaccines would activate the immune system to produce memory white blood cells and antibodies, without causing the disease but giving the patient immunity. They would remain in our blood and produce a faster immune response to kill specific viruses or bacterium if they come along again. If an effective vaccine were developed which didn’t provoke any severe symptoms and provided the patient immunity, the number of people able to catch the disease would reduce substantially and lockdown could be eased.

Concept vaccines are being trialled in both animal and human studies, notably the recent Oxford vaccine, and mixed results are starting to emerge. Some suggest Oxford’s vaccine might only be ‘partially effective’ whilst others are more positive regarding the rhesus monkey study. Results from another safety trial are optimistic; showing that the first 8 patients produced virus neutralising antibodies, similar to responses seen in natural infections. Ironically, for human trials to show enough evidence regarding the safety and effectiveness of a vaccine, some of the volunteers need to catch corona; implying that lockdown is slowing vaccine development!

Not only will results and their analysis take time, but there are many stages along the way that might slow the whole process down. Scientists need to figure out if the vaccine provides sufficient immunity for a long period of time, without adverse side effects (for all age groups), whether mutations in the virus could lead to different strains, if secondary infections can occur, could those with immunity pass on the virus … IF (and it’s a big IF) there are no trip-ups, then comes the issue of mass production and the logistics of vaccinating an entire country. Estimates say for herd immunity to kick in, around 60-70% of the population need to have immunity, whether naturally from the virus or from a vaccine, to finish corona. That’s a lot of injections!

Although this situation seems defeatist, the speed of vaccine development so far has been astounding – faster than ever before – and its trajectory is very promising, resulting from global collaboration between numerous world-leading experts and labs. Those at the forefront believe in their work hugely and their optimism should rub off on us as well.

I hope in the near future, this article will become obsolete for we might have been given answers to these pressing questions and begin to see the light at the end of this long, dark tunnel.

Angus Leech, S, L6 th