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Florian Krammer
1) SARS-CoV-2 Vaccines - I promised a Tweetorial and here we go. This is going to be long and nerdy. But I'll make sure it is easy to understand. If you want more details, please just read this: nature.com/articles/s4158…
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- Loooong thread - 138 tweets ~8000 words.
- TLDR: 40 current vaccine candidates in progress across many different methods (lots experimental) in many different regions. Rollout will be very decentralized.
- Normal vaccine lifecycle: ~15 years
- Cov2 - many steps were done already e.g we already knew a lot about coronaviruses. "Fiddling around was skipped and antigen was plugged into existing tech."
- This acceleration shouldn't be expected to compromise safety.
- 40 vaccines currently in development, 10 in Phase 3 trials. And can be licensed under "Emergency Use Authorization."
- Several ways to make a vaccine
- Classic: Grow virus in cell culture, isolate it, concentrate it, then kill it "chemically or physically". No EU/US companies currently using this approach.
- Live attenuated - more advanced - genetically modifying live virus and infecting people so their body fights a weakened version and develops antibodies. Only 3 of 40 currently use this method & progress "far behind".
- Modern - no live infectious disease involved - antigens are grown in cells. Well tested - used for flu, Hep B & HPV already. Novavax (Author's recommended candidate) using this method in UK.
- Other methods: Replication Incompetent Viral Vectors (trigger strong t cell response but can be problematic for immunocompromised people).
- Completely New Methods:
- DNA ("Current progress seems slow").
- RNA ("Absolute new kid on the block") - impressive technology. Two western frontrunners (Moderna & Pfizer) using this approach - won't work in lower income regions as they need to be stored frozen.
- Authors recommendation for which one to take: Pfizer or Novavax
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