A group of 20 scientists and volunteers from Harvard and MIT have been quietly mixing and testing the coronavirus vaccines in a private laboratory and testing them themselves, but have not yet discovered whether any are effective or not.
The group’s efforts have nothing to do with the FDA or the government. They have been working in a laboratory in Boston to try to create a safe and effective vaccine like hundreds of others around the world.
They have not yet published results or explained if any of the volunteers ever tested positive for COVID-19.
The group claims that because people are mixing ingredients at home after receiving them in return packages, and because there is no money changing hands, it is legal.
Calling themselves Rapid Deployment Vaccine Collaborative or Radvac, the group formed in March. It is chaired by Preston Estep, a scientist who has a doctorate in genetics from Harvard, who said he was alarmed by the government timeline for producing a vaccine in 12-18 months. He wondered if they could come up with their own in private using readily available ingredients.
Preston Estep (L) and George Church (R) in 2018. Among the scientists who took the vaccine, Estep decided to create his own vaccine when the government announced its 18-month deadline in March.
Among the group is George Church, a famous geneticist who has not left his home for five months and who says the world is underestimating the disease.
Most of those involved did not want to be named, but in an interview with Technology Review, Church said he thought the vaccine could work.
It is not yet clear whether or not it is effective.
“I think we take a much bigger risk with COVID considering how many ways you can get it and how variable the consequences are.”
“I think people are greatly underestimating this disease,” he said.
Church says the world is underestimating the disease. She hasn’t been out of her house in five months, she says.
For Church to take, the ingredients were left in her mailbox. He mixed it himself and then took the doses two weeks apart.
The vaccine was produced using vaccine information to protect against SARS and MERS.
It includes fragments of a pathogen, a protein that matches the virus without creating the disease it causes, and a substance taken from shrimp shells.
It is administered by spraying the substance through the nose and, according to the volunteers, it is like obtaining saline through the nose.
“It is not the most comfortable feeling in the world,” said Alex Hoekstra.
There is concern that the vaccine may not work and may even improve patients’ symptoms.
The group released a white paper on the vaccine that raised concerns among some experts.
George Siber, the former chief vaccine officer for Wyeth, is one of those expressing concern.
‘Not the best idea, especially in this case, it could make things worse. You really need to know what you’re doing here, ‘said Siber.
Arthur Caplan of the NYU Medical Center called him “crazy out of the ordinary” and sparked “ill-informed enthusiasm.”
There is concern that the FDA may think they are conducting an unauthorized clinical trial.
‘He is real, he is a solid scientist, but he would not do what he is doing. He called me and said, “Do you want it?” and I said ‘no’
“Do you want me to send you a little?” I said, “No, I’m not going to do anything with it, so don’t waste it on me.”
“The less you know, the better,” said a biotech executive who declined to be named.
Moderna leads the American race for a vaccine. Above, a nurse injects a volunteer in Binghamton, New York, on July 27 as part of the trial.
The group, and particularly Estep, defends its legality.
“If you are just doing it and taking it yourself, the FDA cannot stop it,” he said.
Other scientists around the world have reportedly been taking their own vaccines, including one in Germany that received a lump the size of a ping pong ball in its stomach after injecting its own.
The leader in the US race to develop a vaccine appears to be Moderna, who says her trials are “going well.” The company is looking for more volunteers.
None are likely to be ready for the public until later this year or next.
.
