Hotez: Could you explain the difference between the kind of traditional vaccine your lab is working on and the #mRNA vaccines? #Baylor

 

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/life/article/Peter-Hotez-COVID-vaccine-coronavirus-expert-Q-A-15794252.php

#Baylor #SARSCoV2

Could you explain the difference between the kind of traditional vaccine your lab is working on and the mRNA vaccines?

Ours is a very old, tested vaccine technology, the same one used to make the hepatitis B vaccine all over the world.

It’s a recombinant protein made through fermentation technology and yeast.

You grow yeast in a bioreactor, and it’s genetically engineered to release the recombinant protein, and then you purify it.

It’s a very successful technology, one of the most widely used vaccines in kids for decades with no untoward effect.

So that’s exciting that we have that vaccine.

Also, our vaccine will be very low-cost, around a dollar a dose, so we’re hoping it really comes in to be used globally.

But we don’t see why it couldn’t come into the U.S. at some point, particularly for kids — or maybe as a booster shot

IF the other vaccines, like the mRNA or the adenovirus-based vaccines, do not have much in the way of durability of protection.

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The RNA vaccine technology #mRNA

The only thing we don’t know is the durability of its protection. Does it protect for three months or three years or 30 years? We don’t know.

We also don’t know if there are going to be any long-term safety issues. So far, we’ve not seen them in the 44,000-person trial.

But when you’re rolling out a brand-new technology, it’s hard to know what to expect.

So when bumps in the road happen, as will happen in any new vaccine program, that tends to slow you down.

For instance, this morning we’re hearing in the U.K. that there were two individuals who got vaccinated who had what sounds like a severe allergic reaction.

That didn’t seem to happen in the clinical trial. So what does that mean? #PEG

Well, if it was a vaccine technology we had decades of experience with, we’d feel comfortable just persevering, but moving out ahead with this brand-new technology gives you pause for concern.

So even though you get a lot of upfront speed with the RNA technology, because it’s new you get slowed down at the tail end — and that’s where traditional vaccines can move quickly.

Every vaccine technology has advantages and disadvantages.

That’s the rationale with Operation Warp Speed: We have several different technologies out there —

mRNA and

adenovirus and

particle vaccines,

recombinant vaccines. (Baylor)

The idea is to get multiple shots on goal in case some of those vaccines have to drop out.

[Waiting for Baylor vaccine, or a similar recombinant protein vaccine.]