
Breakthrough in Synthetic Vaccine Technology Requires No Refrigeration - ArtWomb
https://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2019/september/synthetic-vaccine.html
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fnord77
would this work for biologic drugs like remicade, humira and the like that
require refrigeration?

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EForEndeavour
My guess is no, based on this quote from the article:

> "We were working with a protein that forms a multimeric particle resembling
> a virus but is completely safe, because it has no genetic material inside,"
> said Pascal Fender, expert virologist at CNRS. "Completely by chance, we
> discovered that this particle was incredibly stable even after months,
> without refrigeration."

It looks like the protein was chosen for its virus-like structure and/or its
potential to be remodeled to mimic this specific virus (Chikungunya), and it
only happened to be thermostable.

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mabbo
This is a huge deal.

A big issue the anti-vaccine movement latched onto was "they contain
mercury!". Technically true- a compound used as a preservative has some
mercury molecules in it. Never mind that it wasn't elemental mercury and was
perfectly safe to ingest, or that the quantity of mercury was less than is in
most fish-based diets.

The end result was a lot of third world countries naively banning vaccines
containing mercury- meaning that all these vaccines no longer had
preservatives that let them survive longer outside of refrigeration. It's hard
to bring "must stay refrigerated" anything into rural areas in less developed
parts of the world (or at least, it's a lot more expensive to do it). End
result: fewer people vaccinated, and more preventable deaths, higher costs per
person saved.

This kind of breakthrough, if applicable more widely, could save millions (of
both lives and dollars).

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rpmisms
I used to work for Andy Wakefield, so I have a bit of a different perspective
on this issue. The important things that aren't in this are MSG, Mercury, and
possibly adjuvants like aluminum, because

> Our vaccine candidate is easy to manufacture, extremely stable and elicits a
> powerful immune response.

Those are what most of the intelligent anti-vaxxers worry about, except for a
few people who object to fetal tissue being used in development, which is not
an issue here.

I'm sure some folks will get up in arms about this, but it'll be a huge step
forwards in many people's minds, and hopefully will be used as a template in
the future.

To clarify: I'm not an anti-vaxxer, but I do think the testing process isn't
rigorous enough, and I have seen absolutely awful medically confirmed
reactions firsthand, which gives me a slightly different perspective. Vaccines
are good, but I want the reaction rate in non-immunocompromised people to be
zero

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grawprog
Meh

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rpmisms
Yeah, that's my problem. Vaccines are oversold, so to speak. Everyone has a
story about getting the flu immediately after getting the shot.

My big thing is safety and accountability. Currently, if a vaccine is harmful,
the company that makes it has no liability, /and/ there's no control/test
testing. The only way they're tested is by giving people the same shot with
and without the viral component.

Problem is, saying anything that makes vaccines not sound like unicorn blood
makes you one of "them", and you obviously want everyone to die of polio.

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rpedela
People do sometimes get sick with mild symptoms for a day or so after
receiving the flu shot, but is nothing compared to the actual flu.

~~~
Ensorceled
Yeah, last year was the first time I had symptoms from the shot. As someone
who actually has had the flu, it felt like the final few days of the real flu,
after the fever has broken, the worst is over and you are finally better and
on the upswing.

