Scientists around the world search for vaccines that resist the new strains of the coronavirus

Will Covid Vaccines Be Obsolete Due to Virus Mutations? Some startups are trying to make vials that would be effective for years or longer, but for now there is no guarantee that this track will be successful. “They could protect for several years”, assures AFP Alexis Peyroles, head of OSE Immunotherapeutics, referring to a vaccine project on which this French startup has begun to carry out clinical trials. It is about creating a vaccine resistant to the appearance of variants, that is, new strains of the coronavirus that are different from those taken into account to develop the first vaccines. It is one of the great unknowns of the epidemic: to what extent are the vaccines administered today, such as the American Pfizer, will they remain effective when the variants multiply? So far they seem to be holding up well, but even Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla estimates likely that once a year a new, updated dose of the vaccine will need to be applied. Faced with this challenge, several biotech companies are following a different track: stimulate the T lymphocytes, which detect and kill already infected cells, rather than targeting the virus itself. Current vaccines first target the production of antibodies, which recognize and destroy the virus directly, before it infects a cell. This does not mean that these vaccines do not elicit a T cell response, but it is not the priority. Theoretically, T cells have several advantages over antibodies. They can survive longer in the body and react to components of the virus that are much less likely to mutate than those detected by antibodies.In France, OSE tracks the “T response”, as does Osivax, which even promises a “universal” vaccine that could respond to any potential variant. The state finances them with millions of euros, these are isolated projects because few laboratories believe in a universal vaccine. Of the almost 400 anticovid vaccine projects registered by the World Health Organization (WHO), only a few bet on this eventual solution, the most advanced being that of the American ImmunityBio, which published quite encouraging but still very preliminary results last month. “Is it illusory?” Because the reality of these vaccines is still very uncertain. Neither group is proposing one before next year, and many scientists doubt this track will be successful. Some wonder if it is not illusory to want to respond in advance to the future appearance of new strains. «When there is a massive vaccination it is in itself (…) a pressure that can lead the virus to evolve to escape the vaccine, whatever it may be. “British virologist Julian Tang told AFP, who considers it” a double-edged sword. “The other big question is: to what extent will our body resist the virus if we make it respond with T lymphocytes? “I have doubts about the efficacy of such a vaccine,” French virologist Yves Gaudin told AFP. Lymphocytes and antibodies work in tandem. If the response through the antibodies has not been triggered, the T lymphocytes “will not do much good,” he insisted. He believes that the ideal is a vaccine effective on both levels, but if these new vaccines see the light, they will be injected, at least in Europe and the United States, to people who have already received current vaccines.Therefore, your antibodies will be ready. It is the argument of Peyroles (OSE Immunotherapeutics) to affirm that his vaccine, if the results are positive, will be in demand. With this vaccine, «the defense is completed and extended, in coverage and duration. achieved thanks to the initial vaccines, “he explains. He also argues that it would protect people with difficulties to develop antibodies because, for example, they suffer from diabetes or certain cancers.