“In a year and a half we will have a unique vaccine ready that will protect us from Covid and from complaints”

Within 12 to 18 months – possibly in time for the upcoming winter season – health officials in the developed world will have a new vaccine available that can protect us from the coronavirus and, simultaneously, from the flu. Thus, if SARS-CoV-2 does not generate some unexpected rare mutation, in the coming years surely all people at risk and those who wish to receive an annual vaccination booster will help them prevent severe forms of covid-19 and At the same time, the same injection will help immunize us against the flu virus strains that vary each year.

This unique vaccine will be based on the mRNA platform that will be safe, efficient and fast for massive amounts of doses. This is the perspective that, in a recent interview, the Argentine pediatrician Alejandro Cané, a professional who leads the division of Medical and Scientific Affairs of Vaccines and Antivirals in the Pfizer laboratory, painted for PROFILE. It is worth remembering that this is one of the two companies that took the plunge in coronavirus vaccines, based on a brand new, although not so new, technological platform.

“The combination in a single injection capable of preventing covid and flu at the same time is research that Pfizer has already completed in Phase I (as of January of this year). And the way things are going, they could be available in between one and two years,” he explained in an interview conducted during a visit to the vaccine factory that is located in the state of Michigan, in the US, and to which this newspaper attendance invited by the company.

In parallel, the laboratory has programs that seek to combine the vaccine against covid with another capable of preventing a serious pathology that especially affects newborn babies and the elderly: the Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV), whose action is associated with bronchiolitis. “We have also completed other investigations capable of preventing RSV, but developed on traditional platforms.”

Unify. Why is it important to unify several vaccines in a single vial? The reason is simple. Although the emergency due to the covid pandemic has now been officially closed, as declared by the WHO a few days ago, Cané warned that it should not be forgotten that although vaccination seems massive, there are still many millions of people who do not receive it. “It continues to have crises and deaths from covid. And statistics indicate that in low-income countries, only 25% of adults received the basic doses against the coronavirus. Something similar occurs with other immunizations whose coverage rates have been falling over the years.

Thus, facilitating access to prevention leverages the idea of ​​combining several options in a single annual dose. “That would allow us to take better advantage of the opportunities to vaccinate people,” Cané explained with an example: “Today, older adults should receive, each fall, a dose against covid, another against flu, a third against pneumococcus and a fourth for RSV. But it is complex that they go to the vaccination clinic four times at the beginning of the cold season. That is why we are committed to unifying them”. That, of course, has to be done carefully. “At this moment we are checking whether combining several different vaccines in a single “shot” continues after an effective immunization, without their effects “interfering”, explained the expert.

Options. Another of the doubts that researchers are still analyzing is whether SARS-CoV-2 –which turned out to be the owner of a biology capable of evolving at a speed that makes it difficult for the immune system to ‘follow’ the train– can give rise to local substrains that only affects one country or region. Cané maintains: “Until now we have not seen this phenomenon. Virus interactions have become increasingly contagious, and successful lineages will go global in a single big wave.” So from the “Wuhan” it went to “Alpha”, “Beta”, “Delta” and the famous “Omicron”. But for now, genomic surveillance shows that they are global. “At one point we evaluated localized vaccines. But it doesn’t seem to make sense. Obviously, in the future we don’t know.”

Although today the Western market is well supplied by the mRNA options from Pfizer and its competitor, Moderna, and both have already proven their high efficacy and low rate of adverse effects, the truth is that there are other options still in development, including the Argentina “Arvac – Cecilia Grierson” which is in full Phase III. Thus the question arises: does it make sense to continue investing when there are no longer supply problems?

For Cané, the answer is forceful: “I think so. It makes a lot of sense to continue that work, as the more available options we have the better for public health. Also, some platforms may be more efficient than others. Either safer or easier to combine. But it is undoubtedly worth it because experience tells us that, in this type of medical advance, out of every hundred projects that are started, only a couple manage to come to fruition”.

*From United States.

A new, highly versatile biotechnology platform

Although the messenger RNA platform debuted with the coronavirus, experts point out that it is a development that will revolutionize many pathologies. In a recent talk for journalists attended by PROFILE, Dr. Paul Burton, medical director of the Moderna laboratory, explained: “In addition to covid, we have development lines for mRNA therapies against other viral infections. Among them, vaccines to prevent the Epstein-Barr virus, cytomegalovirus, herpes and HIV. They will also bet that it will be possible to develop treatments against pathologies such as skin cancer (melanoma). And, even treat certain heart problems. Although the results of these trials will wait several years. Finally, Burton recorded: “By developing vaccines capable of inducing defenses against other types of pathogens –bacteria and fungi– we will have a collateral benefit that will allow us to “attack” another of the current major public health problems: reducing excessive use. of antibiotics.