Author: Julien Kolta, Yr 12
With the coronavirus being at different stages of it’s spread in different countries the same question continues to ring in the ears of populations all over the world, the question of when they will be able to lead normal lives again. Many seem to respond to this with ‘when the virus is under control’ or when a vaccine is released.
As of June 13 2020, the British pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca agreed to supply 400 million doses of it’s developing vaccine to the EU. The decision was made between the British company and with Europe’s Inclusive Vaccines Alliance (IVA). The IVA is headed by France, Italy, Germany and the Netherlands and they claimed that they are committed to providing the vaccine for all participating countries in Europe, while as of now only the named countries will be paying the full amount, the contract is open for others to join.
Similar agreements have been reached between AstraZeneca and the UK, US (which contributed $1.2 billion to the project), the coalition for the Epidemic Preparedness Innovations and Gavi (the vaccine alliance) for 700 million doses while a billion doses will be supplied to India as per the agreement with the Serum Institute of India. Funds have also been supported by Bill Gates and his foundations.
With The COVID-19 vaccine, AZD1222, said to be soon going into the phase II/III trials in the UK with 10,000 adult volunteers, the company said that it should be released by the end of 2020. AstraZeneca has also rightfully claimed that the vaccine will be released and distributed without profit during the pandemic.
However how does this vaccine, said to provide immunization against the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19), work? According to AstraZeneca France president Olivier Nataf:
“The vaccine is based on a viral transmission,” and so “we take an inactive virus and change its genetic code in order to insert a genetic code which will allow it to produce coronavirus protein. In producing this protein, the patient will develop an immune response against COVID-19.”
However, in more detail, the vaccine uses a replication-deficient chimpanzee viral vector based on a weak version of a common cold virus (adenovirus). This virus, causes infections in chimpanzees and contain the genetic material for the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. After someone has been vaccinated, the surface spike protein is produced triggering the immune system to attack COVID-19 if it infects the body at a later stage.
The recombinant adenovirus vector (ChAdOx1) was chosen to generate strong immune responses from a single dose, however it doesn’t replicate and so doesn’t cause an infection in the individual. Until today, 320 people have been injected with vaccines made from this recombinant adenovirus and it has been well tolerated, but does have some side effects such as a temperature, influenza-like symptoms, a headache or a sore arm.
AstraZeneca has also been endeavoring to discover novel coronavirus-neutralizing antibodies to prevent and treat the progression of COVID-19, and aims to reach clinical trials in three to five months.
We continue to hope and wish for the effectiveness of these immunization techniques to lift the sorrows and pains of this pandemic off of our world. However, we mustn’t ever forget the large impact it has had on our life and must always be hopeful for tomorrow.
References
1. Pharmaceutical Technology https://www.pharmaceutical-technology.com/news/astrazeneca-vaccine-supply-eu/
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