Why bad news for AstraZeneca's vaccine is a roadblock on the way out of the pandemic

moviehd1080p (25)in #watch-head • 4 years ago

Still, the AstraZeneca vaccine will be, at least initially, the most accessible option for many countries.
Relieving the burden on health services
A vaccine's role is to teach the immune system to spot and fight a virus quickly. Essentially, it helps the body remember an infection so it acts faster if you become infected. "Your own immune system will also react to clear the virus, but without the vaccine, this reaction will be slower," said Dr Julian Tang, honorary associate professor and clinical virologist at the University of Leicester.
The currently available coronavirus vaccines work by inducing antibodies and T-cells that have been shown to fight the original coronavirus. Antibodies work by attaching to and attacking the proteins on the surface of the virus -- in the case of coronavirus, this is the spike protein.
If the virus changes too much, notably in its spike protein, the antibodies induced by the vaccine may not not bind to the new version of the virus very well, Tang explained.
"This means that these vaccine antibodies cannot clear as much of these viruses when you are infected so there is more virus left that needs to be cleared by your own immune response -- which reacts more slowly," he added.
AstraZeneca vaccine appears to substantially reduce transmission of the coronavirus, study shows
AstraZeneca vaccine appears to substantially reduce transmission of the coronavirus, study shows
"But the studies suggest that there is enough binding from these vaccine antibodies to at least remove some of the variant viruses from the system -- to prevent more severe disease and death."
One of the main reasons the pandemic has been deadly is because of the sheer number of people in need of medical attention, and a partially effective vaccine, while not ideal, would reduce this burden.
There have been instances where health care systems became unable to cope with the number of patients coming in. When this happens, some patients might die because they can't access help on time. There is also a knock-on effect on the entire system, with non-urgent treatments postponed or canceled.
Experts argue that a vaccine will prove to be beneficial if it can reduce the burden on health services.
"This may look like fewer individuals requiring an ICU bed and more individuals able to recover at home," said Dr. Oliver Watson, an infectious diseases researcher at Imperial College London, adding that this could have "real material consequences in settings where hospitals are very stretched."
This has been the case in many European countries, including the UK, where the government was forced to open several field hospitals to prevent the National Health System becomes overwhelmed.
Tweaking the vaccine
The data from South Africa is no doubt a setback to vaccination campaigns but scientists are already working on updates to the existing vaccines to make them more effective against new variants.
AstraZeneca said Saturday it is working with Oxford University to adapt the vaccine against the B.1.351 variant and that it would advance it through clinical development to make it "ready for autumn delivery should it be needed." Last month, Pfizer said it was "laying the groundwork" to create a vaccine booster that could respond to coronavirus variants.
"We see this all the time with the influenza vaccine," said Tang. Flu vaccines are adapted each year to target the virus strains that are circulating the most. Sometimes, the vaccine picked doesn't match the strain that becomes prevalent.
"Mismatched vaccine seasons do allow more influenza infections, morbidity and mortality -- but to some extent, this is inevitable as the virus will always be mutating first -- then we will have to adjust our vaccines to match the new virus," Tang added.
The UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock said Monday the flu blueprint might work for the coronavirus in the future.
"The jab is updated each year according to the mutations and variations that have happened and been spotted in the preceding few months, and that is manufactured over the summer, and then delivered into the arms of those who are most vulnerable to flu in the autumn," he said.
When it comes to Covid-19, he explained that we need to be thinking about how to protect people in a similar way.
The good news is that developing a vaccine that would work against the new variants doesn't mean starting from scratch, so updates could become available soon.
"The genome of the variant spike protein is known, and the technology to "plug in" the genes for it into mRNA and vector vaccines is well-established," said English. "Within months we hope to see availability of new vaccines, tailored to the South African variant."

4 years ago in #watch-head by moviehd1080p (25)

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Why bad news for AstraZeneca's vaccine is a roadblock on the way out of the pandemic

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