translated from Spanish: Microbiologist John McConnell: “At the current rate the doses will reach everyone by the end of 2023”

Below are the main excerpts from the interview.
In an unprecedented feat, humanity was able to develop, test and approve several vaccines against the same disease in just under a year. How do you evaluate this progress?

I believe that it is the culmination of many years of work in the development of technologies, which has allowed us to generate several different types of vaccines that are now being applied to billions of people.

One of these technologies, which uses inactive viruses, has existed for a century or more. The technology that uses so-called protein subunits has been applied to hepatitis B vaccines, for example, for many years.

And even viral vector vaccines, such as Johnson&Johnson and AstraZeneca/Oxford, use a technology that has been used in clinical trials for about 20 years, mainly in three authorized Ebola immunizers.

And while mRNA vaccines, such as Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, are believed to be new and this is the first time that this technology has been used, the truth is that similar products have been under way for nearly 30 years. .

Prior to covid-19 there were vaccines in clinical trials using mRNA technology against diseases such as AIDS, Zika and rabies, for example.

Therefore, although Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines are the first to use this large-scale technology in humans, they are based on existing and well-proven knowledge.

So, in a way, we were lucky that the pandemic came at a time when we have some very well-established ways to produce vaccines, as well as a set of new technologies for which there was a bit of clinical experience.

As I mentionedOr, we have several successful technology platforms right now. How important is this variety?

It was never guaranteed that a particular technology would work, so I think it was very important to have a variety of different attempts, even if, when applied in real life, they are comparable in terms of effectiveness.

It is important to have vaccines that can be distributed in different ways. For example, Pfizer/BioNtech and Moderna vaccines need a cold chain for distribution that requires freezing, while AstraZeneca/Oxford and Johnson & Johnson vaccines only require regular refrigerators. The Bharat Biotech vaccine can be kept at room temperature.

We need a range of technologies that can be brought to different contexts around the world.

It is also important to have vaccines that can be modified as new variants of the coronavirus emerge. Some of the technologies adapt more easily than others.

I should also add that by using different forms of vaccine production, we are making the most of the manufacturing facilities available worldwide. If we had to rely solely on mRNA technology, there would be no way to produce enough doses by 2022 or 2023, even in high-income countries.

And what was it like to follow so much news and get to know, firsthand, the safety and efficacy results of vaccines that the whole world expected with such interest?

It is a great honor to be the channel through which this incredibly important research flows during the largest public health emergency in the world in the last 100 years.

It is a real privilege to view this material and organize your review before it is published. I am really honored and hope that what we are doing as editors will have some impact on pandemic control as soon as possible.

In some countries, such as Israel, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom, the immunization campaign against the United Arab Emiratesto covid-19 is very advanced. What does this real-life experience tell us about the effectiveness of available vaccines?

Vaccines appear to be even more effective when applied to large populations than in clinical trials. Data from Israel and the United Kingdom show around 90% effectiveness in preventing all forms of covid-19 for the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine and about 88% for the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine.

It is very encouraging that vaccines used around the world appear to be largely effective against variants of the virus, especially in terms of preventing serious diseases and death, although they do not necessarily prevent infection itself.

If you giveYou can see how much the rate of new infections in populations that have been vaccinated decreases compared to those that have not yet received doses.

Chile is a good example of how vaccines actually work. There it is clear that cases have stabilized or are decreasing in individuals who have been vaccinated, while it continues to increase in those who have not been immunized.

The reason for the increase in cases, therefore, is not that the vaccine is ultimately not working, but has not yet been given to a sufficient number of people.

If, on the one hand, the campaign takes off in some places, other countries are dealing with shortages or absolute lack of vaccines. How do you value this global inequality?

There is a global mechanism called Covax, which was designed to buy vaccines and distribute them to countries that cannot fund their own vaccination programs.

Today, this program was designed to help vaccinate only 20% of people in these low- and middle-income nations.

In today’s progression, it will be necessary until the end of 2023 for vaccines to be available to everyone in the world.

It is imperative that other countries, when they have fully vaccinated their populations, make the remaining doses available to governments that cannot afford them.

Some of these richer countries have even acquired enough vaccines to cover three or four times their total population.

Do you think it is possible to solve this problem of global inequality?

It is very important that governments take into account the global interest in minimizing the number of viruses in circulation worldwide.

When vaccination programmes are completed at these locations and the necessary reinforcements are planned in the near future, countries with remaining stocks should seriously consider donating surplus doses.

As long as the virus remains in circulation, there is always the possibility of a mutation for which some current vaccines may not be effective.

I leave here a suggestion, on which I have no opinion formed or sufficient data. But should we give priority to vaccination for children, who are not particularly susceptible to this disease and are very unlikely to develop severe symptoms or die? Or should we prioritize the elderly and vulnerable in low- and middle-income countries?

To shorten this 2023 deadline, when everyone will be vaccinated according to current projections, we must ask ourselves questions about our priorities, and not just look at the internal reality of our own countries.

Even with the approval of the first vaccines against theto covid-19, we have otrtos candidattoS who are still in the studio. Why is it important to have more immunization options againstto covid-19?

Well, vaccines that are still in development will have the opportunity to modify their formulations, so that they are directed against the new varieties of coronavirus.

The biggest problem is that there simply aren’t enough vaccines for everyone. Today, there are many factories in the world that produce immunizers. If different countries have their own vaccine production facilities and can meet their demands, it is extremely important to control the pandemic as soon as possible.

In addition, there is also a price problem. Some manufacturers, because of the type of technology they are using, have produced vaccines that are much cheaper and much easier to distribute than those developed by Pfizer/BioNTech, for example.

I can’t imagine how everyone in the world would be vaccinated if we only trusted the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.

Just as we have a very large arsenal of antibiotics, for example, I think we need a varied range of vaccines.

How will vaccination help get the world out of this pandemic? see Lat the end of the tunnel?

Yes, there’s certainly a light at the end of the tunnel. For countries that have implemented their vaccination program quickly, this light is very strong.

Israel has already completely reopened and the UK is on its way. France had to introduce a new quarantine, but the combination of vaccination and restriction measures is leading France to a position where it will soon be able to start making policies more flexible.

Even the United States is changing this game, although it is not the same reality for all states. However, places where there is widespread acceptance of the vaccine and where womenphysical distances have been stricter, they are definitely evolving well.

Some data published by the Public Health England authority indicate that nearly 70% of all blood donors have antibodies to coronavirus.

This 70% is the number established as the seroprevalence necessary for collective immunity to exist. We still can’t draw a strict line about it, but it’s believed to be an important rate.

We also know that less than 20% of this seroprevalence is caused by a natural infection. So most of it came from vaccination.

We still need to organize and have a variety of vaccines, but there is real hope.

That light is still dark for South Asian countries, such as Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal, which cannot afford vaccines. In the same line, less than 2% of the entire population of the African continent has already received their doses. Therefore, some parts of the world are too late.

I think we can get out of this pandemic together, as long as we don’t lose our focus. Only in this way will we make sure that the light at the end of the tunnel is not intended only for the rich and fortunate, but for all.

Original source in Spanish