5. The Second Wave of Vaccines

The Vax Files

This fifth episode takes a look at some of the next vaccines in the development pipeline that could be equally important when it comes to ending the pandemic with a selection of different vaccines. We’ll look at some of the challenges to continue ongoing clinical trials now that vaccines are already publicly available. Experts discuss GSK and Sanofi’s recombinant protein vaccine that had some disappointing interim results in December, and they also discuss why Australia's now abandoned vaccine was triggering false positives for HIV. We also take a quick glimpse at the inactivated vaccines coming out of China, and the future potential of DNA vaccines that use special devices. Finally we take a look further down the road to whether developing and manufacturing Covid-19 vaccines might be economically viable for smaller players in the race in the long term. Expert Guests:

-- Reynald Castaneda is the Clinical Trials Editor of GlobalData Media in London, covering drug development for investors and the pharmaceutical industry.

-- Dr Yves Van Laethem is a retired virologist from Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Saint-Pierre and is currently the spokesperson for the fight against coronavirus in Belgium.
-- Dr Sam Sun is a resident physician at the Baylor College of Medicine and Director of InDemic, a non-profit research tool providing expert knowledge and analytics on the management of the Covid-19 pandemic.

-- Dr Deborah Fuller is a Professor of Microbiology at The University of Washington School of Medicine. A veteran vaccinologist and researcher, she has been working on vaccine development for the last 30 years with specific research around DNA and RNA technologies.