Will NIH & Industry Consider Universal Coronavirus Vax Developed by Scientists in Georgia/Wisconsin & Tokyo?
Georgia Institute of Technology Scientists, in collaboration with investigators from University of Wisconsin—Madison as well as University of Tokyo continued pursuing the optimal coronavirus vaccine since the Covid-19 pandemic started. The mRNA vaccines developed through the federal government's "Operation Warp Speed" program were a massive innovation; however, annually updating those boosters for specific SARS-CoV-2 variants is inefficient for scientists and patients, although the spin given to the public by the leadership at the time at the National Institutes of Health and the companies was the opposite.
Now, the collaborators have developed a new vaccine that offers broad protection against not only SARS-CoV-2 variants, but also other bat sarbecoviruses. The groundbreaking trivalent vaccine has shown complete protection with no trace of virus in the lungs, marking a significant step toward a universal vaccine for coronaviruses. Findings were recently presented in “Broad protection against clade 1 sarbecoviruses after a single immunization with cocktail spike-protein-nanoparticle vaccine,” published in the February edition of Nature Communications.
For context, SARS-CoV-2 is just one member of the Sarbecovirus (SARS Betacoronavirus) subfamily (others include SARS-CoV-1, which caused the 2002 SARS outbreak, as well as other viruses circulating in bats that could cause future pandemics).
According to Ravi Kane, professor in the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, “We had been working on strategies to make a broadly protective vaccine for a while.” Professor Kane continued, “This vaccine may protect not just against the current strain circulating that year, but also future variants.”
Research goes back in time
Kane and his research group have been working on the technologies to develop more widely protective vaccines for viruses since he joined Georgia Tech in 2015. Although the team didn’t specifically foresee Covid-19 arising when it did, pandemics have regularly occurred throughout human history. While the team pivoted their vaccine research to address coronaviruses, they were surprised by how rapidly each new variant arose, making their broader vaccine even more necessary.
Once they realized the challenge inherent in how fast SARS-CoV-2 mutates, they had two options for how to build a vaccine: design one to be widely preventative against the virus, or use the influenza vaccine, which updates annually for the anticipated prevalent variant, as a model.
Considering Durability, Breadth
Making a broad vaccine is more appealing because it enables patients to get one shot and be protected for years. To create their general vaccine, Kane’s team capitalized on the key to the original mRNA vaccines — the spike protein, which binds the virus to healthy cells. Their vaccine uses three prominent spike proteins, or a trivalent vaccine, to elicit a broad enough antibody response to make the vaccine effective against SARS-CoV-2 variants as well as other sarbecoviruses that have been identified as having pandemic potential.
“If you know which variant is circulating, you can immunize with the spike protein of that variant,” Ph.D. student and co-author Kathryn Loeffler said. “But a broad vaccine is more difficult to develop because you’re protecting against many different antigens versus just one.”
It Starts with Preclinical Animal Research
Collaborators in the Kawaoka group at the University of Wisconsin tested their vaccine in hamsters, which they had previously identified as an appropriate animal model to evaluate vaccines and immunotherapies against SARS-CoV-2. The vaccine was able to neutralize all SARS-CoV-2 omicron variants tested, as well as non-SARS-CoV-2 coronaviruses circulating in bats. Even better, the vaccine provided complete protection with no detectable virus in the lungs.
Kane hopes that the vaccine strategy his team identified can be applied to other viruses — other coronavirus subfamilies as well as other viruses such as influenza viruses. They also expect that some of the specific antigens they describe in this paper can be moved toward preclinical trials. Someday, a trivalent vaccine could comprise a routine part of people’s medical treatment.
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Australia: COVID-19 Vaccine Side Effects Under Scrutiny: Ralph Babet initiates Senate Inquiry Targeting Excess Mortality
Babet is the lone libertarian senator so it is good to see him having an effect
Australians concerned about excess deaths in recent years are now able to have their voice heard by the parliament as a new Senate inquiry has gone online.
Following the establishment of a Senate inquiry into excess mortality in the week ending March 31, the Australian parliament has opened a new page for the inquiry on its website, allowing concerned individuals and organisations to make submissions.
According to Australian Bureau of Statistics data, excess mortality rose from minus 3.1 percent in 2020 to 1.6 percent in 2021 and 11.7 percent in 2022 before dropping to 6.1 percent in 2023.
Notably, there were almost 20,000 cases of excess deaths in 2022 alone.
The inquiry was established after the parliament narrowly passed a motion moved by United Australia Party Senator Ralph Babet with a 31-30 vote on Feb. 26.
Mr. Babet had the support of the Opposition, One Nation Party, and some independent senators, while the Labor and the Greens opposed the motion.
In a social media post, Mr. Babet said this was an opportunity for Australians to have a say on the issue.
“Many submissions are expected to be received from both individuals and professional organisations, with the opportunity for public hearings to follow later this year,” he wrote.
“This is your opportunity to have your say. If you have a personal story, knowledge, or expertise in this space, please prepare a submission for the committee.”
Australians can make submissions online via the parliament website, or they can send letters and emails to the Senate Community Affairs References Committee, which is responsible for investigating the matter.
Mr. Babet also said the committee was expected to finalise a report by the end of August. “May this committee process give a voice to the family members of the deceased and deliver the answers that our nation so desperately needs,” he wrote.
In an interview with 2GB Radio, Mr. Babet said the inquiry would look into the side effects of COVID-19 vaccines to determine whether they were connected to excess deaths.
“There would have to be at least a part of this, which is due to the vaccine,” he said.
“I want an answer at the end of this to say hey, that vaccines were a part of this, or the vaccines were not a part of the sport, or we don’t know, let’s investigate more.”
At the same time, the senator mentioned the challenges he faced during the process of establishing the inquiry, alleging that many politicians did not want to investigate the issue.
“For the last two or three years, none of the other senators … most of them have not wanted to take a look,” he said.
“They want to sweep things under the carpet. That’s what they’ve wanted to do.
“It’s not okay. It’s not how you do things. This is Australia. This is not a communist dictatorship.”
Meanwhile, Labor Senator Tim Ayres criticised the idea of having the parliament investigate excess deaths, saying it was opportunistic behaviour.
“Some people in the political system, of course, where they see fear, see opportunity. Where they see a capacity to divide people, to isolate them, and to frighten them, that is an opportunity,” he said.
While independent Senator David Pocock did not believe in COVID-19 vaccine “conspiracies,” he said there was a need to investigate the issue of excess mortality.
“I don’t accept the conspiracy theories that have been featured so heavily in Discord around COVID-19 vaccines,” he said.
“However, I do acknowledge there is data showing excess mortality rates that have increased in recent years.”
https://www.theepochtimes.com/world/inquiry-into-excess-deaths-now-open-for-submissions-5620720
*************************************************Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://australian-politics.blogspot.com (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com (TONGUE-TIED)
https://immigwatch.blogspot.com (IMMIGRATION WATCH)
https://awesternheart.blogspot.com (THE PSYCHOLOGIST)
http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html More blogs
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