Skip to main content
  • English
  • 日本語

Search form

  • Contact
  • Access
  • OIST Members
  • Home
  • Research
    • Faculty Research Units
    • Science and Technology Group (STG)
    • Bridge Network
    • Research Support
    • Library
    • Institutional Repository (OISTIR)
    • Research Integrity
  • Education
    • Admissions
    • Apply
    • Internships
    • Graduate School Office
  • Innovation
    • Available Technologies
    • Industry Partnerships
    • Startup Programs
    • Incubator Facility
  • About
    • OIST Facts and Figures
    • Access & Maps
      • How to Get to OIST from Naha Airport and Southern Okinawa
      • How to Get to OIST from Northern Okinawa
      • OIST Shuttle Bus
      • Airport Limousine Bus
      • Taxi Service Near OIST
      • Maps
    • Presidential Search
      • Presidential Search
      • Committee Members
      • Facts and Figures
      • Strategic Plan
    • President
      • President
      • Meet President Gruss
      • Strategic Plan
      • SDG Initiative
      • Writing and Speeches
      • Former Presidents
    • Organization
      • Organigram
      • Officers and Senior Management
      • Message from the President
      • Board of Governors
        • Board of Governors - Committees
        • BOG & BOC Meeting Schedule
      • Board of Councilors
        • Board of Councilors - Committees
        • BOG & BOC Meeting Schedule
      • Auditors
      • History
        • Information on OIST PC
      • Information Disclosure
    • Campus
      • Tunnel Gallery
      • Housing
      • Shops and Restaurants
      • Administration Facilities
      • Community Facilities
      • Research Facilities
      • Healthcare Facilities
      • Childcare Facilities
      • Event Venues
      • Seaside House
      • Parking
    • Procurement
      • Article Tender
      • Construction Tender
      • Supplier Guidance (Japan)
      • Directions for Delivery and Sales
      • Tenders Archive
      • PC Procurement Information
      • Electronic Procurement System
      • Past Procurement Information (Construction)
      • Supplier guidance (International)
    • Publications & Reports
    • Policy Library
    • Compliance Initiative
    • Giving to OIST
    • Tokyo Office
  • Community
    • COVID-19 Guidance
      • Home
      • Communications Updates
        • CDC and SAP
      • "New Lifestyle"
      • Health Care Guidelines
        • Wellbeing Resources
      • Testing
      • COVID-19 Contact App (COCOA)
      • Events
      • Visitors and Vendors
      • Working From Home
      • OISTer Spotlight
    • Community Activities
    • OIST Tour for Members of Public
    • OIST Tour for Students
    • OIST Science Festival
      • OIST Science Festival 2019
      • OIST Science Festival 2018
      • OIST Science Festival 2017
      • OIST Science Festival 2016
      • Open Campus Autumn 2015
      • Open Campus 2015
      • Open Campus 2014
      • Open Campus 2013
      • Open Campus 2012
      • Open Campus 2010
    • SCORE! Science in Okinawa
    • Resource Center
    • Kuroshio Magazine
  • Events
    • Calendar
    • Upcoming Events
    • Past Events
    • OIST Workshops
    • Event Venues
  • News
    • COVID-19
      • Home
      • Research Community Projects
        • Home
        • DIY oxygen concentrator
        • Triangular-shaped spikes key to coronavirus success
        • PCR Testing
        • New device set to recharge masks
        • How much distance is enough?
        • Face Mask
        • Alcohol-based Gel
        • Antibody Testing
        • Low-cost chip for detecting COVID-19 antibodies
        • COVID-19 Social Experience Survey
        • UVC Sterilization Units
        • 3D Printed Face Shields
        • Modeling the Spread of COVID-19
        • Involvement with the COVID-19 Disease Map project
        • Science Videos for Children
        • Handwashing and Sanitizing Campaign
    • Articles
    • Press Releases
    • Videos
    • OIST on Vimeo
    • Podcast
    • Photos
    • University Photo Collections
    • OIST on Flickr
    • OIST in the News
    • Keyword List
    • OIST Multimedia Guidelines
  • Careers
    • Diversity
    • Child Development Center
    • Schooling Options
    • Resource Center
    • Ganjuu Wellbeing Services
    • Postdoctoral Career Development
    • Get Job Info Updates
    • HR Recruiting Background Check
    • HR Relocation
  • Groups

COVID-19 Insights from OIST#4 - Vaccine Development

Source: 
Ryukyu Shimpo
Publication Date: 
Sunday, 24. May 2020 - 11:45

OIST is collaborating with Ryukyu Shimpo for a series of column articles related to COVID-19 on weekly basis. The forth story was written by Provost Mary Collins.

Article is in Japanese, but please see below the original draft in English.

------------

As explained in last week’s column, when a virus infects a person, their white blood cells start to mount a defense. After about 2 weeks, B cells produce antibodies to bind to and inactivate the virus and T cells evolve into killer cells able to detect and eliminate virus-infected cells. This system has evolved to protect humans from a repeat infection by the same pathogen. The next time the pathogen infects, white blood cells eliminate it before it can establish an infection.

Vaccines work by tricking white blood cells into believing that an infection is under way, so that they make a protective response. Early vaccinations were carried out by a British doctor Edward Jenner in 1796. He injected children with cowpox, a virus from cattle related to the smallpox virus, but which does not cause a serious illness. He showed that these children did not catch smallpox. Smallpox was eventually eliminated worldwide in 1977 using a vaccine similar to cowpox.

There are many effective vaccines against viruses. Some, such as those for polio, measles, mumps and rubella, provide lasting protection following childhood immunization. These are made from weakened strains of the original viruses.  In contrast a new influenza vaccine has to be given every year, as the circulating influenza strains change every winter. HIV has provided an insuperable challenge for vaccine design as the virus mutates rapidly, even within a single patient. Fortunately, a combination of drugs that target virus replication can be used to suppress HIV disease.

For us to return to the kind and scope of activities we enjoyed before the pandemic, there is now intense pressure to produce a vaccine against COVID-19. This is an international problem and ideally all countries should work towards an international solution. Vaccines are, in general, more affordable, more reliable and easier to administer than drugs and can be rolled out worldwide, as the successful elimination of smallpox demonstrated.

Fortunately, there is every chance that a COVID-19 vaccine will work. For example, there is a commercial vaccine against a dog coronavirus. However, human coronaviruses that causes common colds are not sufficiently serious for vaccines to have been developed, and SARS, another human coronavirus, was eliminated before a vaccine was needed. Elimination of COVID-19 has not worked the same way because there are so many asymptomatic carriers who spread the virus.

A piece of very good news is that COVID-19 apparently is not mutating substantially as it spreads. More than 100 groups worldwide are developing COVID-19 vaccines for testing using a variety of different approaches. Hopefully, at least one will succeed. Already, a trial vaccine produced in Oxford UK can protect macaques against COVID-19 infection and is being tested for safety in human volunteers.

The final test of any vaccine will be to see if it protects people who are exposed to COVID-19 infection. Here a few questions remain. First, where and when will initial efficacy tests be done? This depends on an ongoing COVID-19 outbreak. Second, if people are protected, how long does the protection last?

URL: 
https://ryukyushimpo.jp/news/entry-1131652.html

Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University
1919-1 Tancha, Onna-son, Kunigami-gun
Okinawa, Japan 904-0495
How to Contact Us

  • Home
  • Research
  • Education
  • Innovation
  • About
  • Community
  • Events
  • News
  • Careers
  • Groups

Copyright © 2022 Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University

  • TIDA
  • Privacy Policy
  • Sitemap