Top scientists call for universal coronavirus vaccine

The prestigious review Science On Thursday, published an editorial calling for a global effort to develop a universal coronavirus vaccine that would remain effective against other members of the same virus family that could pass to humans.

Wayne Koff, head of the Human Vaccines Project, and Seth Berkley, who heads the global vaccine alliance Gavi, said that while the COVID-19 pandemic is far from over, humanity now has the tools to do so. terminate and undertake the fastest vaccination. campaign in history.

But, they warned: “More virulent and deadly coronaviruses are waiting behind the scenes. So the world needs a universal vaccine against coronaviruses.”

SARS-CoV-2 belongs to a diverse group of viruses, numbering in the thousands, characterized by their crown-like appearance, which originates from the advanced proteins that dot their surfaces.

They are able to infect a wide variety of animals, from bats and pangolins to pigs and mink.

Four coronaviruses are known to cause colds in humans and historically they have been considered a low priority for research.

That changed with the 2002 SARS-CoV-1 epidemic that ultimately killed some 8,000 people with a death rate of 10%.

The Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) in 2012 was 34% fatal.

Koff and Berkley wrote that there was a risk that SARS-CoV-2 mutates in a way that makes current vaccines less effective – as has already been seen with the South African variant – or even becomes ineffective.

Additionally, the potential is increasing for other coronaviruses to cross the species barrier.

“Modern agricultural practices, viral evolution and relentless human encroachment on the natural environment mean that there is a growing risk that people will encounter previously isolated animal populations that harbor new strains with pandemic potential,” they declared.

“With human migration, population growth, urbanization, rapid movements around the world and climate change accelerating the spread, it has never been easier for epidemics to turn into epidemics and escalate into pandemics. “

On the other hand, they argued, advances in biomedical research, computer science and engineering had ushered in a new era in vaccine discovery.

High-performance supercomputers can help identify new “antigens,” key viral proteins that induce immune responses, which vaccines use to train our bodies.

Animal coronavirus genetic sequence databases can be used to model their evolution. And research into the decline of the immune system with age may help improve vaccine design.

“It has to be a global effort. A roadmap is needed to define fundamental scientific questions as well as a framework for funding and sharing information, data and resources,” the scientists said.

It won’t be easy, they said, but “if we choose to wait until the next coronavirus emerges, it may be too late, as it was with COVID-19.”

© 2021 AFP