{"id":304302,"date":"2020-05-07T20:18:24","date_gmt":"2020-05-08T00:18:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/?p=304302"},"modified":"2023-11-08T20:21:05","modified_gmt":"2023-11-09T01:21:05","slug":"assessing-where-vaccine-efforts-stand-and-the-challenges-ahead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2020\/05\/assessing-where-vaccine-efforts-stand-and-the-challenges-ahead\/","title":{"rendered":"How far are we from a vaccine? Depends on who \u2018we\u2019 is"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t
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Todd Jordan\/CDC<\/p><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\t

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\n\t\tHow far are we from a vaccine? Depends on who \u2018we\u2019 is\t<\/h1>\n\n\t\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t
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\n\t\tAlvin Powell\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t

\n\t\t\tHarvard Staff Writer\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/address>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t

\n\t\t\tFormer Chan School Dean Bloom assesses where efforts stand and the challenges ahead\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\n<\/header>\n\n\n\n
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This is part of our <\/em>Coronavirus Update<\/em><\/a> series in which Harvard specialists in epidemiology, infectious disease, economics, politics, and other disciplines offer insights into what the latest developments in the COVID-19 outbreak may bring.<\/em><\/p>\n

One of the most popular \u2014 and highest-stakes \u2014 guessing games to emerge from the coronavirus pandemic is how long it will take to get a vaccine. A Harvard infectious disease expert said on Thursday that how far we are from a vaccine will likely depend on who\u2019s asking.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe question is: \u2018Who is \u2018we?\u2019\u201d said Barry Bloom<\/a>, the Joan L. and Julius H. Jacobson Research Professor of Public Health and former dean of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health<\/a>. If \u201cwe\u201d are healthy volunteers willing to be inoculated to see whether an experimental vaccine works, the answer is that some are already getting it, and more will be enrolled in the coming months. Once an effective solution emerges, hopefully by early next year, it may take another six to eight months to reach priority populations like U.S. health care workers and first responders. Other essential workers, including those toiling for low wages in grocery stores and food production, should not be forgotten, Bloom said.<\/p>\n

For still others, particularly those in developing nations, the answer is considerably different.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf \u2018we\u2019 is a person in Burkina Faso, or Laos, and [they are] expecting to see a vaccine in the next three years, I would be very surprised [if they see it],\u201d said Bloom, who spoke during a Facebook Live event sponsored by The Forum at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health<\/a> and PRI\u2019s \u201cThe World.\u201d<\/p>\n

Complicating the already-tense global COVID picture, Bloom said, has been an increase in nationalism in the U.S. and elsewhere, which is at odds with equitable distribution of scientific gains against the SARS-CoV-2 virus and global health goals. The Trump administration, for instance, skipped a meeting<\/a> of global leaders late last month called to get them to commit to distribute any future vaccine in an equitable way and declined this week to attend a fundraising conference<\/a> by the European Union to coordinate vaccine efforts. The head of one of the world\u2019s largest vaccine processing operations in India said in a recent media report that any vaccine it produces will go to protect India\u2019s population before doses are sent abroad.<\/p>\n\r\n\t\n\n\t

\"Barry
\u201cI\u2019ve not seen anything like this in my entire career. This is moving at lightning speed," \u201d says Barry Bloom, the former dean of Harvard Chan School. Kris Snibbe\/Harvard file photo\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t\n\t\r\n\n

Further, increased tension between the U.S. and China over the virus\u2019 origins threatens the free flow of scientific information, marked early on by Chinese researchers sharing the viral genome in the pandemic\u2019s opening weeks. That spirit of cooperation has been key to the rapid international scientific response to the outbreak, one that has nonetheless been outpaced by the virus\u2019 spread. Scientists have been sharing information about the virus and the illness it causes nearly as quickly as the data has become available, Bloom said, flooding the traditional scientific journals with new information and prompting the publication of unreviewed work on preprint servers and even in scientists\u2019 Twitter posts.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve not seen anything like this in my entire career,\u201d Bloom said. \u201cThis is moving at lightning speed. Not everything you read is going to turn out to be correct, but at least the information is being shared.\u201d<\/p>\n

Development of treatments is moving on a parallel track, Bloom said, and the recent findings that the drug remdesivir is effective in lessening illness severity is promising. Bloom pointed out that optimism has to be tempered by the fact that several of those given the drug died and that the virus could still be found in the bodies of those treated. Still, he said, most of those tested were seriously ill, and some believe that giving the drug to patients earlier in the course of their illness may make an even more significant impact. Public health officials have underscored that remdesivir is a treatment, not a cure, and it\u2019s possible that its greatest importance may be as a proof of concept that will lead to better therapies.<\/p>\n\r\n\t\n\n\t

\"Yonatan
Professor Yonatan Grad points out that when social distancing is relaxed, plans must be in place for a possible resurgence of infections. Kris Snibbe\/Harvard file photo\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t\n\t\r\n\n

Until effective treatments or vaccines are widely available, the predominant tools for government leaders will remain social distancing, personal protective equipment, and other measures already in use. Yonatan Grad<\/a>, the Melvin J. and Geraldine L. Glimcher Assistant Professor of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, said Thursday that as more localities and states begin to relax social-distancing requirements, it\u2019s important we begin to think about what to do when infections resurge, as is expected.<\/p>\n

Grad said very little thought is being given to what the reimposition of controls will look like, even though they may not necessarily mirror current practices. That\u2019s because, he said, a lot has been learned about what works and what doesn\u2019t. He said it\u2019s likely that controls could be more targeted and less the \u201cblunt instrument\u201d that widespread social distancing has been during the initial response.<\/p>\n

\u201cCan we use more refined measures? Can we combine social distancing of varying kinds with contact tracing, as well as quarantine and isolation?\u201d Grad asked. \u201cTrying to balance the types of interventions we have available to us with the context in which we\u2019re seeing a resurgence is going to be critical. \u2026 I think that\u2019s an extremely important question, and one that I have not seen well addressed.\u201d<\/p>\n\r\n

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