Over 100 million Americans have already received jabs that will protect them against covid-19. The doses that are doing rounds in the market are majorly from brands such as Moderna and Pfizer. However, most of us were unaware that a team of talented scientists are on their way to announcing the launch of the next gen army covid vaccine.
Almost no one was aware of the work that was going on right in the outskirts of the American capital. This team of scientists has successfully tested their creation on monkeys too. This is a potential vaccine that may come with a different protein combination from that of the market varieties.
The good news is that finally, the vaccine that results from much hard work, intelligence, and experience has been tested on a human on Tuesday, April 6, 2021. According to Dr. Kayvon Modjarrad, the most important thing right now is to win the covid battle and to end the war.
He is the team lead of the next gen army covid vaccine project and the head of the infectious diseases branch of WRAIR (Walter Reed Army Institute of Research). The institution falls under the Silver Spring area of Maryland.
Work for the next gen army covid vaccine began long back
Earlier, when the covid outbreak occurred, Dr, Kayvon and a team of the ten most proficient scientists were working day and night relentlessly. During six months, over two dozen prototypes underwent analysis, and the team finally found the one by the end of the period.
Many people already know Dr. Kayvon because he gets credit for developing other excellent vaccines, too, over the last few years. This includes doses for the Zika and Ebola virus. He was one of the leads during the MERS investigation. MERS is yet another illness that occurs due to the effects of coronavirus for those who don’t know.
Although WRAIR is the oldest Defense Department institute of biomedical research, infectious diseases are still very new. However, it is unfortunate to hear that Modjarred was already sure that despite such prompt developments, he would not be able to launch the first vaccine for covid 19.
Dr. Kayvon M0djarred says that the next gen army covid vaccine is not like any other. Therefore, it has to take some time before the manufacturing and designing process is over correctly.
Dr. Modjarred asks some valid questions during his vaccine interview
Right from the very beginning, Kayvon’s primary focus was to detect future or next-gen threats. These are the ones that may be unknown to a lot of people. For example, such threats may now be hiding inside some bat caves and waiting to come out and infect people. During an interview with the BBC, Dr. Kayvon Modjarred raises a question.
He asks about the millions of people all across America who lost their lives even before the launch of the vaccines. After a point of time, it seems the launch of vaccines is not as valuable as it should be.
For example, what is the use of offering vaccines due to mass availability when so many are already dead due to the same coronavirus? Therefore, he suggests that there should be a vaccine ready in huge quantity and should also reach people before a second wave or a newer set of symptoms are already getting viral in the market.
What does the next gen army covid vaccine offer that the other doesn’t?
All three vaccines that are now available in the market have a very similar function. These will fuel up the body’s genetic instructions to rise to spike protein which is again present on the virus’s surface. Therefore, once the protein creation is done, the immune system soon gets a message. That is how the generation of antibodies begins automatically.
On the other hand, the vaccine by WRAIR already skips both the creation and instruction steps to bring in the prepared spike protein straight in your hands. This will come with an excellent adjuvant compound that boosts the immune system, thus beginning with suitable antibody response.
Besides, the WRAIR vaccine is again different from all others that are protein-based. Instead, this variety brings out nanoparticles that look like viruses themselves. The consistency at a stretch comprises an arrangement of around 24 spike proteins.
The arrangement is like small bouquets arranged in sets of three each coming out of the ferritin base. By far, the test results on animals- rats and monkeys are pretty successful. Therefore, we are hoping that we all get to see a more efficient vaccine.