“By 2022, we will see improved vaccines,” said Soumya Swaminathan.
The new Covid-19 vaccines, including those that do not require needles and can be stored at room temperature, could be ready for use later this year or next year, the World Health Organization scientist said.
Six to eight new immunizations could complete clinical trials and be subject to regulatory review by the end of the year, Soumya Swaminathan, the agency’s chief scientist in Geneva, said on Saturday.
The new vaccines will be added to the 10 already shown to work within a year of Covid-19 being declared a pandemic. The world needs more immunizations, especially since the continuous circulation of the virus generates new dangerous variants, and drug manufacturers are struggling to fulfill orders. Only 122 countries have started immunizing people, according to data collected by Bloomberg.
“We are excited about the vaccines we have,” said Swaminathan, an Indian pediatrician best known for his research on tuberculosis and HIV. But “we can improve even more,” she said. “I think by 2022 we will see improved vaccines.”
The current crop of experimental vaccines uses alternative technologies and delivery systems and includes several single-injection vaccinations and vaccines that are administered orally, by nasal spray and through the skin using a type of patch. They could bring immunizations that are more appropriate for specific groups, such as pregnant women, according to Swaminathan.
More than 80 candidate vaccines are being studied in humans, although some are still in the early stages of testing and may not be successful. Covid-19 vaccine companies already in use have also begun testing upgraded versions designed to counteract coronavirus variants that have emerged in recent months.
Recall images
“We must continue to support the research and development of more vaccine candidates, especially as the need for continued immunization of the population is not yet very clear at this time,” said Swaminathan. “So we need to be prepared for that in the future.”
The WHO Strategic Advisory Group of Immunization Experts examines whether people who have been infected with SARS-CoV-2 should have two doses of vaccine. Some research indicates that a natural infection works to initiate the immune response to SARS-CoV-2, just like a first dose, making a second injection unnecessary.
Offering a single dose of vaccine to Covid-19 survivors could release more supplies, Swaminathan said, although it could present “practical and logistical challenges in many countries” if blood tests are needed to measure patients’ antibody levels before decide whether a second is justified.
The launch of safe and effective vaccines also raises questions about how to conduct clinical trials of experimental vaccines effectively and ethically, she said. Placebos will be replaced with a “gold standard” vaccine in a so-called non-inferiority design when it is no longer ethical to use a placebo, Swaminathan said.
Global process
Meanwhile, one approach the WHO is exploring is to compare three or four candidate vaccines simultaneously with a placebo. A similar study was used to test the effectiveness of drug therapies for Covid-19 and may mean that study participants would have an 80% chance of receiving an experimental vaccine and only a 20% chance of receiving a placebo.
“We are in talks now with several developing vaccine companies to see if we can launch something like this on a global testing platform,” Swaminathan said, adding that he is optimistic that such a study could begin in the first half of 2021.
A global process involving a large number of people and countries offers several benefits, she said. Testing vaccines in various ethnicities, age groups and people with different medical conditions makes the results more generalizable, and when the epidemic subsides in some parts of the world, it is often still active in others, she said.
(This story was not edited by NDTV staff and is automatically generated from a syndicated stream.)