By Kemo Cham
Research shows BCG vaccine can be more protective
BSG, the vaccine used to prevent against Tuberculosis (TB), has for long been ineffective, but a new research has shown that its effectiveness can be improved upon.
Scientists at the University of Pittsburgh in the United States say they have found that the mode of administering the vaccine increases its effectiveness.
Like most vaccines, BCG [Bacillus Calmette–Guérin] has been administered in the muscle or skin. According to the researchers, injection of the vaccine directly into the blood stream gives a different result.
The study done in collaboration with the National Institute of Health was conducted on monkeys. The researchers found that in 9 of 10 monkeys, a higher-than-usual vaccine dose injected into a vein worked much better, as published in the scientific journal Nature, on January 1, 2020.
Dr. Robert Seder, one of the authors of the study, was quoted saying while the findings offer hope, more safety studies were required before they can consider testing the approach on humans.
This study, if it turns out to be successful, will be a welcome development for Africa which bears the brunt of the killer disease.
TB is a bacterial infection that kills about 1.7 million world wide annually. Sierra Leone is ranked among the top 10 countries in the world with the highest burden of TB infections, according to the World Health Organization. The country records about 23, 000 cases annually with about 3000 deaths.
BCG, which is the only vaccine that protects against TB, is used mainly in high-risk areas like Sierra Leone, to protect babies from the disease. But the vaccine has been particularly far less effective at protecting teenagers and adults from the main threat of TB in the world – TB of the lungs.
Low cost pneumococcal vaccine gets WHO pre-qualification
The World Health Organiozation (WHO) has prequalified a low cost version of a Pneumococcal vaccine.
The vaccine manufactured by an Indian firm, Serum Institute of India, received the nod in the third week of December.
The vaccine will cost US$2 per dose, 30 percent cheaper than the price for a similar vaccine for the same disease manufactured by another firm.
The prequalification of the vaccine by WHO was based on the results of a phase-3 trial (the final phase of human clinical trial) carried out in The Gambia, according to reports. Some 2, 250 children were involved in the Gambian trial, the report said.
Pneumococcal is a type of pneumonia (lung infection) that is caused by the bacteria Streptococcus. It is transmitted from one person to another via droplets from the nose or mouth of an infected person when they breathe, cough, or sneeze.
Pneumonia generally is an infection that inflames the air sacs in one or both lungs of the infected person, whose air sacs may fill with fluid or pus (purulent material), causing cough, fever, chills, and difficulty in breathing.
Pneumonia is a notorious killer disease of children, particularly in the developing world.
According to the United Nations children agency, Unicef, every day nearly 2, 200 children under the age of five die from pneumonia.
The pneumococcal vaccine, called PNEUMOSIL, helps produce stronger immune response to a weak antigen, according to the manufacturers.
The Serum Institute of India says it intends to make the vaccine available to low- and middle-income countries like Sierra Leone.
Presently many developing countries depend on a vaccine called Synflorix, which was manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline, co-funded by the Global Vaccine Alliance (GAVI) and costs US$3 per dose.
“This will make the vaccine 30% cheaper than the Gavi price and dramatically lower for countries that do not get the vaccines through Gavi,” Dr. Rajeev Dhere, Executive Director of Serum Institute, was quoted saying.
Serum is planning to submit its data on the vaccine to the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) for licensing, following the completion of the phase-3 trial.
Copyright © 2020 Politico Online
