WHO pushes for a second-generation COVID-19 vaccine

[Global Times reporter Leng Shumei] WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus revealed at a press conference on the 22nd that THE WHO is determining the second generation of new crown vaccines through the vaccine "solidarity test". The research team began recruiting volunteers in late September, and so far more than 11,500 people have participated in the trial.

Tedros said the "Solidarity Test" aims to discover second-generation vaccines that have a stronger protective effect on the new coronavirus variant, longer protection periods, and vaccines that can be vaccinated without injections.

It is understood that the World Health Organization officially launched the "solidarity trial" of the new crown vaccine on October 26 this year, which is a randomized clinical trial program on an international scale. Currently, an independent vaccine priority advisory group has reviewed clinical data on about 20 COVID-19 vaccine candidates. According to the latest global list of COVID-19 vaccines released by the World Health Organization, the two vaccines selected for the "solidarity trial" of COVID-19 vaccines are the DNA vaccine pGX9501/INO-4800 jointly developed by Inovio Pharmaceuticals and AdiWeixin (Suzhou) Biopharmaceuticals, and the recombinant protein vaccine MVC-COV1901 jointly developed by Medigen Pharmaceuticals and Dynavax. Tedros revealed that three other vaccines will soon be included, and more may be included.

Ai Di Weixin told the Global Times reporter on the 23rd that the project is independently carried out by WHO, and the research aims to select the next generation of new crown vaccines with the most development potential, with the goal of providing better protection against the virus variant and achieving a longer protection period.

After consulting relevant experts, the Global Times reporter found that the definition of the second-generation vaccine is not uniform. Some experts believe that the second-generation vaccine should refer to the vaccine that is not currently on the market and can cope with the new crown variant; other experts believe that the second-generation vaccine should be a completely new variety of vaccine, and the two vaccines currently selected by WHO are not technologically innovative enough.

For the first definition, at present, the world's major new crown vaccine manufacturers, including the United States Pfizer, Modena, China National Pharmaceutical, Kexing are doing relevant research, but experts said that before the formation of results to market, it is necessary to go through strict preclinical research, after obtaining clinical approval, but also to systematically carry out phase I,II., III. clinical research. At the China International Fair for Trade in Services in September, Sinopharm launched a second-generation vaccine against variants such as Delta. Zhang Yuntao, chief scientist of Sinopharm China Biologics, said that after obtaining clinical approval, Sinopharm will accelerate the clinical research of mutant vaccines overseas, hoping to obtain relevant data by the middle of next year.

In response to the second definition, Lu Hongzhou, an expert of the national new crown pneumonia medical treatment expert group, told the Global Times reporter a few days ago that the most effective new crown vaccine should be an inhaled vaccine, because this vaccine can generate protective antibodies in the upper respiratory tract, thereby preventing the virus from entering the human body, which can prevent both infection and virus transmission. On November 12, the world's first inhaled adenovirus vector COVID-19 vaccine Kwesa was unveiled. According to cansino, the vaccine developer, inhaled COVID-19 vaccines use special equipment to atomize vaccines into tiny particles and enter the respiratory tract and lungs through inhalation, thereby stimulating the triple protection of mucosal immunity, humoral immunity and cellular immunity.