The Director of CEO of VIDO says the technology used to develop a COVID-19 vaccine which is now undergoing human clinical trials offers several advantages over those used to develop vaccines currently being distributed.
Phase-1 human clinical trials of a COVID-19 vaccine, developed by the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization in partnership with the Vaccine Formulation Institute and Seppic, have shown it to be both safe and effective.
Dr. Volker Gerdts, the Director and CEO of VIDO, says the technology used to develop this vaccine has a proven safety record.
VIDO is producing a protein subunit vaccine. That is a technology that has been used in humans for many decades now. In fact, every day in Canada we are giving protein subunit vaccines to our children like the pertussis, the diphtheria, the tetanus, so it is a proven technology that offers several advantages over some of the newer ones.
They are much easier to handle, much easier to transport, much easier to store. They are overall more stable products so they don’t require ultra-low freezers or minutes of handling after the vial has been opened in the pharmacy so they have many advantages in terms of use of the actual vaccine. They are also easier to manufacture and so there is some cost savings as well. I think most importantly though, they are the technology that we have used in humans for almost 50 years now.
Like I said, all of our children are getting them on a daily basis. Many of us have received hepatitis B vaccines for travel and so on. Those are protein subunit vaccines and so there is a lot of data, a lot of information out there. They have an excellent track record when it comes to safety.
~ Dr. Volker Gerdts, Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization
Dr. Gerdts says various doses have been administered to different age groups without any significant adverse reactions and, more importantly, the vaccine induces very good immune responses including very good immune responses to the delta variant.
