Bottleneck In The Development And Delivery Of Covid-19 Vaccine

To help find a cure for covid-19, China released the virus sequence in January 2020. Immediately, the world swung into action. Now there were two options open. First is to design and develop a vaccine using a standard process. That will take years to achieve and may eventually not work. The second option is to follow the recent theoretical vaccine process that has shown to be effective in human clinical trials.

With over 100 vaccine candidates on covid-19 currently at different stages of development, the first sets which will bypass so many of the normal clinical processes based in the emergency response will be available in about a year's time. And that will be next year. According to the world health organization (WHO), a vaccine will not be readily available to the public until after 18 months.
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There are three main models that are currently under development for the theoretical approach. They are nucleic acid, viral vector and virus like particle involved in deoxynucleic acid (DNA) replication. Each of them must be carefully evaluated for efficacy and safety.

The second sets are those of the standard vaccine programme. They will come out in the future if the first set could not handle the situation. It is risky but it may come handy if these experimental sets fail. They are the weakened, inactivated, toxoid, subunit (surface of protein) or conjugate vaccines. They have had success in different diseases in treating or preventing infection.

Covid-19 Vaccine Best Model Approach

Among the new sets of vaccines under investigation, one has stood out. That is messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA).

mRNA Vaccine For Covid-19

According to Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), the platform based on DNA or mRNA offers considerable promise. And among both of them, mRNA has some more advantages. It could be rapidly assessed, refined for long term stability and prepared for large scale production capacity.

What Is mRNA Vaccine

Covid-19 vaccine

mRNA vaccine is made from a part of the sequence of the virus RNA with antigenic properties. It is introduced into the body and it produces some encoded antigens which in turn lead the body to produce antibodies as part of adaptive immune response. It is like sending the virus into the body and allowing it to produce antigens. The body recognizes the antigen and produces antibodies to fight off the virus. But instead of using the virus, a small part of the virus RNA that triggers the production of antigens IN the body will be introduced.

If successful, this will be the first mRNA vaccine in the world. Human clinical trials have shown that mRNA has an advantage in production, administration and safety profile. Good as it is, it does not enter the nucleus of the human cell like the complete virus. It ends at the cytosol of a human cell.

Another Bottleneck

Before the vaccine is approved, the dosage form must be studied in advance. This will help to prevent another set of delay. And the dosage form should be able to withstand many conditions. This will not actually be a major issue in the development of a vaccine. The main issue is delivery.

How will a vaccine be produced to meet the over 7 billion people in the world? That will take more than 6 month to achieve with the current situation. Because of the covid-19, supply chains for so many vaccine production are disrupted. Supply chain has been seriously affected. Here comes some thinking. Who gets it first?

Let us look at previous health challenges and how immunization teams were able to stop the spread of some diseases using vaccines. When smallpox was spreading among families, a vaccine was developed and designed for it. Unfortunately, the production scale of the vaccine was small. The vaccine will not be able to go round the world in the shortest possible time. The only way to solve it was to think out of the box.

They identified all those who are infected. They vaccinated all those around infected persons. This was so effective that it helped curb the spread of smallpox.
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So who are those who will get covid-19 vaccine? The answer should be the most vulnerable. They include health workers, the elderly, children and those with other diseases that have weakened their immune system. But there will be a problem if the vaccine is not suitable for some sets of people who are more vulnerable like the elderly or children.

But what if the vaccine will require multiple doses? That will require more production of the vaccine. But what if the disease was put under control before the delivery of the vaccine? Millions of vaccines will be discarded. That is not the first time something like that has happened.
We should worry less about the cost and final price. Most developing countries will be financed by donor agencies. Both the WHO is appealing to scientist around the world to share ideas and make the final price easy for all.

Some of these questions are what scientists try to answer during this period. And until the cure is found, they will keep working just as they have for other infection.

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