A coronavirus vaccine may not provide complete immunity and only ends up reducing the severity of symptoms, an expert said.
Speaking to MPs on the science and technology committee, Kate Bingham, chair of the UK vaccine working group, said that in the short term, she was “quite optimistic” about developing one that would reduce symptoms.
She was “relatively optimistic, we will find a vaccine that can treat the population,” he said.
“The caveat is … is it a complete sterilizing vaccine, which means you can’t get infected, or is it one that basically eliminates symptoms to reduce mortality?
“Clearly we would like to come up with a sterilizing vaccine to prevent people from becoming infected.
“But in the short term we may have to satisfy ourselves with a vaccine that reduces the severity of the disease, and I am quite optimistic that we will get it.”
“How quickly it takes before I get a sterilizing vaccine, I still don’t have solid vision.”
Sir John Bell, a royal professor of medicine at Oxford University, told the committee that the UK should prepare for the “worst” in winter when President Greg Clark asked if the country needed to be ready for a cold season without a vaccine.
Sir John said: “This whole epidemic has been based too much on assumptions that have turned out to be untrue.
“So my strong advice is to be prepared for the worst.”
In the United Kingdom, the University of Oxford began testing its vaccine, ChAdOx1 nCoV-19, on healthy adult volunteers in April.
Trials are also underway in South Africa and Brazil, with the hope that the results will be available by September, and the vaccine will be launched later.
It uses a weakened version of a common cold virus that infects chimpanzees that has been genetically changed so that it cannot replicate in people.
Imperial College London first administered a small dose of a potential vaccine to a healthy volunteer on June 19, with a second booster dose to follow. About 300 healthy people should participate in the trial.
This vaccine uses synthetic strands of genetic code based on the genetic material of the coronavirus.
It is used to trigger an immune response that could offer protection against COVID-19, and if it is shown to be safe and effective, a new trial of 6,000 participants is scheduled for October.
In the United States, Moderna’s human vaccine trials began in March, and in May it was said that there were initial indications that it could train the immune system to act against the coronavirus.
1273 mRNA uses a small sample of the virus’ genetic code and injects it into patients. Eight people in safety trials were reported to have obtained neutralizing antibodies.
Sanofi and GSK are working together on a vaccine that they hope will be available in mid-2021, while investigating possible vaccines in the rest of the world, including China and Australia.
