The world now has a vaccine that is cheap and effective.
The world has seen over 314 million infections and over 5 million deaths in the two years since the COVID-19 epidemic began. Sixty percent of the world's population has received at least one dose of the vaccine. There is still a huge gap in global access to these vaccines. I contend that the vaccine inequity should be of grave concern to everyone.
The world has learned that viruses don't need a passport. In high- and upper-middle-income countries, 72 percent of vaccine doses were administered, and in low-income countries, only 1 percent. Wealthy countries are giving more than one dose, while first and second dose are not available to many.
There is hope that a new vaccine will help close the vaccine gap.
How does the vaccine work?
The immune system is taught how to recognize the virus in all COVID-19 vaccines. There is a vaccine called the CORBEVAX vaccine. The immune system is prepared for future encounters with the coronaviruses by using a harmless piece of the spikeProtein from the coronaviruses.
Pfizer and Moderna's vaccine and Johnson & Johnson's vaccine give the body instructions on how to make the spike, but CORBEVAX delivers the spike directly to the body. The other approved COVID-19 vaccines require two doses.
The co-directors of the Texas Children's Hospital Center for Vaccine Development, Drs. Maria Elena Bottazzi and Peter Hotez, developed CorbevaX.
The researchers created a vaccine by putting the genetic information for a portion of the SARS virus into yeast to make large amounts of the vaccine. The vaccine was ready for use after isolating the yeast and adding an adjuvant.
There was little need for the vaccine because of the first outbreak of the disease. The vaccine was dusted off and updated to match the spike protein from the previous vaccine.
A large US-based clinical trial found the vaccine to be safe and effective at preventing infections. Emergency use authorization for the vaccine was granted in India.
The group at Baylor was not able to get funding for their vaccine in the US. Even though the design of the vaccine was more advanced than before, the newer technologies raced ahead.
The advantage of the vaccine is that it can be produced using a well-established technology that is relatively inexpensive and easy to scale up. The Novavax COVID-19 vaccine, which is available for use in 170 countries, is a product of a technology that has been around for 40 years.
This vaccine can be made at a much larger scale because of the facilities available. The key to global access is that CORBEVAX can be stored in a regular refrigerator. It is possible to quickly produce millions of doses and distribute them quickly. Producing a vaccine based on newer technologies is more expensive and complicated than a vaccine that is based on older technologies.
The CORBEVAX vaccine was developed with global vaccine access in mind. The goal was to make a vaccine that was easy to produce and transport.
The researchers were not concerned with intellectual property. The vaccine was not funded by the public, but was funded by philanthropists.
COBREVAX is currently licensed to Biological E., which plans to manufacture at least 100 million doses per month starting in February 2022. This patent-free arrangement makes it possible for other low- and middle-income countries to produce and distribute this vaccine.
One of the cheapest vaccines currently available is CORBEVAX. The Omicron variant is under investigation. The CORBEVAX story can be used as a model to address vaccine inequity when it's necessary to protect the world population against diseases like COVID-19.
The need for vaccine equity.
Global access to vaccines is not equitable. The governments of wealthy nations purchase vaccines in advance. Low- and middle-income countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America need to be able to afford the cost of placing orders if they want to have vaccine production capacity.
The Indian government has ordered 300 million doses of CORBEVAX, and BioE plans to produce 1 billion shots for people in developing countries.
The US and other G7 nations have pledged to donate over 1.3 billion doses of COVID vaccines, yet only 591 million have been shipped. If BioE is able to produce 1.3 billion doses of CORBEVAX, this vaccine will reach more people than those who have been donated and shipped by the wealthiest nations.
The omicron variant has shown that if global vaccination rates remain low, new variant can spread quickly and are more likely to develop in unvaccinated people.
It is not likely that boosters will end the epidemic. Developing globally accessible vaccines like CORBEVAX is an important first step in ending the Pandemic.
The Associate Professor of Biology is at the Rochester Institute of Technology.
This article is free to use under a Creative Commons license. The original article should be read.
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