Author: Kirkimbaeva S.S.
Translator: Yurankyzy Saltanat
Сopy editor: Kigbaeva Camilа
To end the coronavirus pandemic, US President, Trump,created the «warp-speed operation» vaccine. But some scientists worry that this operation is missing out on proven and true vaccine technology. The Trump administration does not fund vaccine approaches that have been used for more than 50 years, including for modern vaccines against hepatitis, influenza, poliomyelitis and rabies. Instead, the United States is investing up to $ 2 billion in new approaches that are promising, but for the most part, have not led to approved vaccines, let alone vaccines with long experience.
Saad Omer, an expert on infectious diseases at Yale University, said Operation «Deformation Speed» should expand his portfolio to include older technologies. "New technologies are good, and they can work well, but we need to be safe," said Omer, who helped develop several vaccines.
Dr. Paul Offit, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, who developed the rotavirus vaccine, joined in with this view: “Just because it's new doesn't mean it's better,” he said.
Meanwhile, China uses a completely different approach than the United States, and four of its five vaccines have been clinically tested using the older approach.
However, the director of the US National Institute of Health says there is a “need for speed” and that older approaches require “significantly more time” to develop. “We don’t have time to waste it,” said Dr. Francis Collins. He also has concerns about the safety of the old approach, preferred by the Chinese.
Some other scientists are wondering if old technology is really taking so long or really more dangerous. “The Chinese would not do this if they did not have a rational plan. They don’t play the fool”, said John Moore, professor of microbiology and immunology at Weill Cornell College of Medicine. «The Chinese are not without logic».
This week's announcement confirms this. According to the Brazilian health authorities, the Chinese company SinovacBiotech will begin the 3rd phase of clinical trials of inactivated viral vaccines in the first week of July. Such tests are the last step before a vaccine receives regulatory approval.
And if the American vaccine is the first to appear on the market, which is only partially effective or has security problems, then the distant American public will no longer trust public health authorities if they tell them to try the next vaccine that will appear. "The scientific community will lose some credibility if things happen that way," said Offit, a vaccine specialist at the University of Pennsylvania. That's why he and others want the US to spread its wings a little and finance a more diverse area of vaccine candidates, including the older type preferred by the Chinese.
Source: https://edition.cnn.com/2020/06/17/health/vaccine-platforms-warp-speed/index.html
