The Future of Vaccine Development and Immunization
Remember how the world stopped when the Covid pandemic started back in 2019? Countless lives were lost as scientists rushed to find a cure. The scientific community worked tirelessly, and finally, on December 11, 2020, Pfizer-BioNTech made their vaccine available to the general public. Since then, over 12.7 billion doses of the Covid vaccines have been administered globally.
Since their inception over 200 years ago, vaccines have proved crucial to our defense against various pathogens. Vaccines have saved countless lives from simple infections like the common flu and even deadly diseases like Ebola. The administration of vaccines has significantly lowered morbidity and mortality rates that resulted from several infections.
Fundamentally, vaccines do this by eliciting an immune response in the host, leading to the development of antibodies. These antibodies are responsible for combating the specific pathogen the individual was vaccinated for.
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Traditional Vaccines and their Limitations
Traditionally vaccines are made by weakening a virus, also known as attenuation of the virus (As in the case of polio and Hepatitis A). The resulting weakened pathogen is unable to reproduce in the body. Due to its reduced number, it cannot cause an infection, and the body produces B- memory lymphocytes against it. Next time the same virus infects the body, the immune system quickly responds and fights off the infection.
Alternatively, only a part of a virus may be used in the production of the vaccines (As in the case of Hepatitis B and Shingles), where a specific part of the virus is responsible for the immune response.
Advancements in this front come in the form of GenCRISPR synthetic sgRNAs, a modern gene editing tool. What makes it revolutionary is the exclusion of the need for plasmids or a virus-based delivery system. Instead, intact complexes are delivered directly to the cell, eliminating the need for cellular expression. This latest advancement is particularly beneficial for these reasons:
- It is DNA-free
- It can be detected at high levels immediately following transfection
- It has a quick clearance rate from the cell
- It has improved efficiency
- It is best for in vivo studies
Conventional vaccines have their limitations.
- Not all viruses can be attenuated. Viruses like HIV cannot be weakened enough to produce a vaccine.
- Most vaccines cannot withstand elevated temperatures; hence storing and transporting them at a cool temperature is challenging.
- Traditional vaccines cannot be administered to an immunocompromised patient.
- They can only be made against organisms that grow in cultures. This is costly, and the vaccine yield is also very low.
The Need for Innovation
As Pharmaceutical Companies develop newer vaccines, an effort is being made to make them more accessible.
Researchers aim to make vaccines that are
