Production capacity
It can also take a while to produce such a vaccine on a large scale, says Professor of Vaccinology Anke Huckriede of the UMCG: “You are growing large quantities of a dangerous virus, so that must be done in well-protected locations. You don’t want to. that the virus escapes. Those security measures limit production capacity. “
There is also a Chinese vaccine that works with a so-called vector. This is a cold virus, in this case an adenovirus, to which a piece of genetic material from the SARS-CoV-2 virus has been added. “But the cold virus that the Chinese use for this is relatively common here,” says Huckriede. “Our immune system may therefore have cleared that virus before it could initiate the production of antibodies against SARS-CoV-2.” A number of vaccines ordered by the EU also work with adenoviruses, but not the same as in China.
Easier to keep
The Chinese vaccines also offer benefits. “Developing the vaccine is not rocket science“, says Van Egmond.” The method is known, you need least develop it. “And it is a lot easier to keep than especially the RNA vaccines. The vaccine from Pfizer, which was announced this week that it was 90 percent effective appears to be one such RNA vaccine.
Those vaccines must be stored at a temperature of -70 degrees Celsius. Special freezers are needed for this. “In the west we have that infrastructure or we can set it up relatively quickly”, says Van Egmond. “But in large parts of the rest of the world that does not apply. China is so much bigger than the Netherlands, with very remote parts. That also applies to Africa and South America. Then I can imagine that you choose a vaccine that is better. can be kept under less than ideal conditions. “
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