Login
Vaccine Injuries Deserve More Attention, Says Vaccinologist
More empathy — and investment — is needed to address vaccine-related injuries, says Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health’s Kizzmekia Corbett-Helaire.
Corbett-Helaire, assistant professor of immunology and infectious diseases, was one of the developers of the COVID-19 vaccine. On the July 17 episode of STAT News’ First Opinion podcast, she discussed her experience working on the vaccine, her path to a career in science, and her approach to being a role model as a Black woman in science.
She also talked about her June 11 opinion piece in STAT, in which she wrote that she believes more empathy is needed for people who report experiencing long-term side effects from the COVID-19 vaccine.
In the STAT piece, Corbett-Helaire listed concrete steps that everyone in the vaccine field — herself included — should take. These steps include establishing a better system through which people can report vaccine-related injuries; creating and widely distributing guidelines for healthcare providers to better communicate with and care for patients who experience these injuries; and conducting more and deeper scientific investigations into these injuries. Such investigations, she added on the podcast, would not hamper further development of vaccines. Rather, they would further the quality and effectiveness of vaccines, as well as bolster public trust.
How to Reduce the Risk of a Catastrophic Lab Accident
It’s been about a century since viruses were recognized as causing devastating human diseases. Since then, scientists and public health experts have diligently tried to reduce the threats they pose by developing vaccines and treatments, improving ventilation and more.
So it was stunning when, in 2012, scientists published papers describing how they had done the opposite: They had genetically engineered highly lethal avian flu viruses to make them more contagious between mammals, potentially including humans.
The researchers said they pursued this work to deepen their scientific understanding of avian influenza. We were among the many experts around the world who objected to their research. The risk of an accidental or deliberate pandemic emerging from these enhanced viruses far outweighed any potential scientific benefit.
The potential role of a laboratory accident in causing the COVID pandemic remains uncertain and widely debated. But what is clear is that we still urgently need stronger government oversight of risky virus research.
Walgreens Receives $25 Million BARDA Grant for COVID Vaccine Trial
Walgreens has received $25 million in grant funding to conduct a decentralized clinical trial assessing how well a person vaccinated against COVID-19 is protected from future infections.
The award funding comes from a consortium funded by the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), embedded in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The partnership is BARDA’s first with a major retail pharmacy.
Walgreens will conduct a phase IV observational clinical study, using COVID vaccine data, to assess correlates of protection, known as responses to a vaccine that predict how well a vaccinated person will be protected from future infections, using COVID-19 vaccine data.
The initiative’s goal is to increase access to clinical trials. Currently, participants in a vaccine clinical trial often travel to hospitals, universities or other central locations that are far from their homes. Taking a decentralized approach through a geographically diverse retailer like Walgreens can help reach patients where they are and enable the collection of real-world data, the organizations said. The partners also hope that learning what aspects of decentralized clinical trials work for vaccine correlates of protection studies can help drive future studies at scale.
Modified Self-Amplifying RNA Provides Opportunities for New Vaccines and Treatments
A paper published on July 8, 2024, in the journal Nature Biotechnology presents promising data that offers a foundation for developing future vaccines and treatments. Researchers Joshua McGee, lead author, senior authors Mark Grinstaff, Wilson Wong, and Florian Douam and other colleagues from Boston University solved a longstanding challenge with self-amplifying RNA.
They used modified building blocks, called NTPs to build their saRNA. Once they established proof of concept in cells, they tested their method in vaccinated mice against a SARS-CoV-2 lethal challenge. Their vaccine yielded much higher antibody levels and better protection against the challenge than a similar mRNA-based vaccine.
Most readers are aware that messenger RNA technology was used in the vaccines given to protect against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Reviewing some of the basics, our genetic material is encoded in DNA. In order to make vital proteins in the body, such as enzymes to run cellular functions or to build tissue, cells translate DNA into mRNA and mRNA into proteins. Both DNA and RNA are made up of building blocks, called NTPs.
There are a couple of challenges with mRNA vaccines. First, they cause a robust immune response, which can be assessed by measuring interferon levels. This robust response limits the amount of time that they remain viable, which in turn reduces the amount of protein that they can crank out, prompting the need for additional booster doses of the vaccines. Second, mRNA has a short half-life and requires high doses. The high doses coupled with a robust immune response can lead to inflammation and unappealing side effects, such as fever, body aches, and fatigue that many of us have experienced. Third, the mRNA carries only a single cargo and thus only codes for a single protein of interest.
The Current COVID Variant You Should Know About: What the CDC Is Saying About KP.3.1.1
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is now monitoring the COVID-19 variant KP.3.1.1 as it edges close to KP.3.
The government agency’s Nowcast data tracker showed the projections of the COVID-19 variants for a two-week period starting on July 7 and ending on July 20. The KP.3 variant accounted for 32.9% of positive infections, followed by KP.3.1.1, at 17.7%. Combined, the two variants make up 50.6% of cases.
The KP.3.1.1 COVID-19 variant is a strain that is the second most prevalent at the national, regional and state level, according to the CDC‘s Nowcast data tracker.
“We are predicting that the most prevalent lineages currently are KP.3, KP.3.1.1, KP.2.3 and LB.1, a sublineage of JN.1,” said CDC Spokesperson Rosa Norman. “All these lineages are descendants of JN.1 and have similar spike proteins.”
China’s Philippines Embassy Demands Answers for Propaganda Against COVID Vaccine
The Chinese embassy in the Philippines said on Monday the United States should give an explanation to the Filipino people as soon as possible for its false propaganda against China’s COVID-19 vaccine.
The remarks centered around a Reuters investigative report that said the U.S. military launched a clandestine program during the COVID pandemic to discredit China’s Sinovac inoculation in the Philippines.
A spokesperson for China’s embassy said the U.S. should immediately correct its “erroneous practices, stop using lies to confuse the world, stop slandering and smearing other countries.”
