THE GIST of Editorial for UPSC Exams : 22 July 2020 Cautious optimism: On race for vaccines gather pace(The Hindu)

Cautious optimism: On race for vaccines gather pace(The Hindu)

Mains Paper 2: Health 
Prelims level: H1N1 vaccine
Mains level: Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health

Context: 

• With the novel coronavirus continuing to spread across continents, the race to find effective drugs and vaccines has been progressing at a blistering pace. 
• Never before have candidate vaccines been developed from scratch, tested on animals and completed early stages of human clinical trials, all under six months. 
• Normally, candidate vaccines take at least a few years to reach the stage of clinical evaluation.
• Some experts are “cautiously optimistic” that by the end of the year or early 2021, the world might know if one or more vaccines are safe and effective, and vaccines might even become “available”. 

Quick development:

• Even in the case of the Ebola vaccine tested during the 2014 outbreak in Guinea, research and animal studies had been conducted prior to the outbreak. 
• In the H1N1 vaccine, the well-developed influenza-based technology enabled quick development, but not before the pandemic peaked. 
• But in the case of the novel coronavirus, 24 candidate vaccines are already in clinical evaluation and another 142 are in the preclinical evaluation stage. 
• With most countries managing to only flatten the curve, the possibility of new surges cannot be dismissed. 
• There is overwhelming evidence that protection and herd immunity can be achieved only through vaccination. 

Candidate vaccines under trials:

• One candidate vaccine developed by China using a recombinant common cold virus (adenovirus) as a vector to ferry the genetic material of the coronavirus was on June 25 approved for use exclusively by the military for one year. 
• The approval was based on limited safety and efficacy results from phase-1 and phase-2 trials; the phase-3 trial for vaccine efficacy and safety is yet to begin. 
• As per preliminary results, the Oxford University vaccine, which too uses an adenovirus, has been found to be safe and immunogenic in a phase 1-2 trial. A phase-3 trial is under way. 
• A U.S.-based company along with NIAID has found its vaccine that uses messenger RNA platform to be safe and immunogenic in a phase-1 trial. 
• A phase-3 trial is to begin later this month. Interim results show that another vaccine candidate using the messenger RNA platform is safe and immunogenic in a phase-1-2 trial. 
• Two Indian companies too have begun human clinical trials. There is thus cause for cheer.

Caution:

• However, a note of caution is also in order. 
• Past experiences with vaccine development for two coronaviruses — SARS and MERS — have shown that vaccines can “exacerbatelung disease, either directly or as a result of antibody-dependent enhancement”. 
• Thus, the compulsion to rigorouslymonitor safety profiles of candidate vaccines cannot be overemphasised. 
• Efforts to accelerate clinical trials should not rely on shortening the follow-up period or by-passing critical steps in testing but put in place protocols that allow the trials to seamlessly graduate from one phase to another. 
• This is an acid test for vaccine science and development and the outcomes will have far-reaching consequences either way.

 Conclusion:

• As the race for vaccines gathers pace, the follow-up period should not be shortened.

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Prelims Questions:

Q.1) With reference to the United Nations High-level Political Forum (HLPF), consider the following statements:

1. The HLPF is the foremost international platform for follow-up and review of progress on the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). 
2. The HLPF meets annually in July for eight days under the auspices of the UNDP. 

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2

Answer: A

Mains Questions:

Q.1) What is a vaccine? How it works? Describe the vaccine development process and how rigorously monitor safety profiles of candidate vaccines cannot be overemphasised?