Vaccine: 600,000 Brits receive jab in single day
Valneva, a speciality vaccine company based in France, announced it would provide the UK Government with 40 million doses of its incoming jab. The company started vaccine manufacture from its base in Scotland last week, as it recruited for phase I/II trials. Although it hopes to deliver the same results, Valneva has used a different approach to some of its rivals across the Atlantic.
How does the Valneva vaccine work?
So far, the most effective vaccines have relied on training mRNA.
Both the Moderna and Pfizer candidates use this method – which trains the genetic material to produce a protein and, in turn, causes an immune response.
These have proven 90 to 95 percent effective at preventing infection from Covid-19, with added protection from some new variants.
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The other highly effective vaccine created by Oxford University and AstraZeneca uses DNA to train the body.
Researchers used a modified cold virus named an adenovirus commonly found in apes to carry these instructions to the DNA and produce the spike protein.
The result is the same as the American jabs, with a slightly reduced effectivity rate of 90 percent after two doses.
Valneva uses an inactivated, adjuvanted vaccine, which diverges from the other two methods.
Scientists use the genetic material from a hamstrung virus rendered toothless by heat or radiation.
The virus can no-longer infect people, but still provokes a reaction which trains the immune system.
The antibodies the vaccine produces should be able to ward off future infections from the real thing.
Scientists use the method for several vaccines, including the annual flu jab, and Valneva’s candidate uses “inactivated whole virus particles” high in spike protein density.
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The company noted the jab caused “consistently induced higher antibody levels” in preclinical “experiments”.
How well it works remains to be seen, as Valneva recently started its phase I/II trails.
Companies don’t report safety and efficacy results until later on, usually around the end of the third phase, which could still take months.
But Valneva executives remain convinced their candidate will be successful.
Speaking about the company’s agreement with the UK Government, Thomas Lingelbach, Chief Executive Officer of Valneva, said the vaccine could make a “major contribution” to efforts “later this year”.
He said: “We are very pleased to extend our supply commitment to the UK.
“Assuming success, we believe that our vaccine, which has commenced commercial production at our site in Scotland, can make a major contribution to the UK’s vaccination efforts later this year as well as in 2022.
“This new development in our partnership underlines the need for our inactivated vaccine approach and we will continue to work closely with the Vaccines Task Force on execution.”
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