One of the most promising Vaccine Candidates failed because...

While we all might be tired of staying at home waiting for this lockdown to be over, there are many who are tired of reading negative news & pessimistic prognosis, more than ever. I don’t think this is the right time for news channels and online tabloids to monetise on our fears with catchy and dreadful headlines or lame articles deploring Trump’s daily activities! A - Hydroxychloroquine is given even in India to patients with mild symptoms & those nursing them to prevent the illness. B - He suggested “UV light treatment” ‘cuz he didn’t know how to put it across, he meant a radiation therapy since we are already trying plasma transplant! Injecting people with disinfectants was also silly when all he could have said was, “Why don’t we use proper Antibiotics that could do away with infection because its an infectious disease instead of relying on immunosuppressants.” Well at least he has a fighting spirit unlike WHO. We need more positivity, some glimmer of hope, kindness, care, comfort & a respiring, antidotal update and we have every right to demand a vaccine at the earliest.

I guess I know what went wrong with ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 as in Oxford University’s vaccine (which was supposed to be mass manufactured by Serum Institute, Pune) It failed at the trials, because it was intravenously injected... it directly went into the blood stream which avoided pneumonia in the lungs but it couldn’t prevent the respiratory tract from getting infected because of which the monkeys got easily infected & they led to more infection as well. As opposed to this Bharat Biotech had initially stated that they’ll be making nasal sprays because this virus invades human cells through the mucous membranes. In my opinion, they were right, I guess it would be wiser to fortify the primary route/mucous membrane so that our bodies could trigger an immediate immune response & release antibodies instantaneously without getting infected or infecting others. It will eventually prevent pneumonia too.

I think it’ll be safer to place all bets on a nasal vaccine.

Also (hate saying this but) the failed candidate was somewhat experimental to begin with. They had combined two different pathogens, out of which one could trigger common cold in monkeys; to create a Mock Coronavirus prototype & they’d only used Corona’s spike protein to introduce it’s weakened microbes to our blood cells for stimulating an immune response and generating high levels of antibodies. It was never that promising... Moderna has come up with RNA based mRNA-1273 which is quite the opposite.

Thats why you should never choose form over substance!

Stay Safe. Take Care

Zara Sauleh