Making Sense of Medical Science (MSMS)

A medical scientist explains medical news for lay people

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Steve Clark, PhD is a retired university professor with a PhD in immunology and a past Special Fellow of the Leukemia Society of America. Clark has published dozens of papers based on his research and holds two drug patents. He taught medical and graduate students about cancer biology and genetics, and about research ethics. He also directed an NIH-funded PhD Graduate Program and chaired several executive-level faculty committees. Clark served on the University Chancellor’s Speaker’s Bureau. While retired, Clark has been blogging on the COVID pandemic, which is the subject of his next book.

Promising preliminary CoV-2 vaccine results

The University of Oxford is leading the way in developing a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine. They tested their vax on six rhesus monkeys and all remained virus free after 28 days of sustained exposure to the virus. The monkey experiment was carried out in late March by US vscientists at the Rocky Mountain Laboratory in Hamilton, Montana as reported by the New York Times Monday 4/28.

In this pre-clinical trial, Six rhesus macaques received a vaccine produced by the Jenner Institute and the Oxford Vaccine Group. They were then exposed to heavy levels of the coronavirus that previously sickened other monkeys. The vaccinated monkeys suffered no ill effects and remained healthy at least 28 days later. Safety trials for the vax have begun in humans as a prelude to efficacy trials in a large number of people.

These are encouraging, but very preliminary results. One concern when trying to develop a vax to a new virus is that the immune response generated by the vax might actually be detrimental to the patient. For example, the infectiveness of Dengue virus can actually increase due to an immune response to the virus. A consortium of EU and US health agencies recently formed and met virtually to oversee the numerous vax trials underway or soon to be launched, and they pointed out that a deleterious immune response to CoV-2 was one of the first things they needed to understand.

However, if this Oxford study holds up, it could go a long way to minimizing the fear that an immune response could actually exacerbate COVID-19. That would represent a significant hurdle surmounted.

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2 responses to “Promising preliminary CoV-2 vaccine results”

  1. Jersay Peet Avatar
    Jersay Peet

    The vaccine approval process will be FDA fast-tracked unlike any other in our history…and, once accomplished, the pro- vs. anti-vaxxer controversy will glow red hot. Will the anti-vaxxers make a “just this one time” exception? Or will their resolve harden when considering the speed and relatively short trial period of the eventual vaccine?
    And what if the government MANDATES a vaccination?
    “Their survey revealed that the only key variable that significantly shapes whether one believes vaccinations should be required or be the decision of parents is age. Young adults are much more likely to believe that parents should have the right to choose, with 41 percent of those 18-29 years old claiming this, compared with 30 percent of the overall adult population. They found no significant effect of class, race, gender, education, or parental status.”
    Not surprising. We seniors remember polio all too well.
    https://www.thoughtco.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-anti-vaxxers-3026197

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  2. Steve Avatar
    Steve

    From comments I have seen around the web, a lot of people will be suspicious about a fast-tracked vax. An NBC poll I saw suggested that less than 1/3 of the respondents would get the vax. If so, THAT would make it impossible to achieve a sufficient level of herd immunity, making the whole effort useless, at least in the near term.

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