Covid vaccine

The effectiveness of vaccines depends on their ability to stimulate the production of specific antibodies
with which the material producing them react and are neutralised. The antigen may be whole organisms
which may be live or killed organisms or microbial products such as toxins which have had their toxicity
removed or attenuated. The essential ingredients of any vaccines is therefore a protein or groups of
proteins which stimulate the production of specific antibodies which stimulate the production of
antibodies with which they then react and are neutralised.

Attempts have been made to identify specific proteins present specific proteins present on the surface
of microbial cells to inject them into laboratory animals with the aim of causing the production of
antibodies in the animals into which they have been injected. Although this procedure showed some
promise, no effective vaccine had been produced using this method until the RTS/…. Vaccine against
malaria was approved for use against malaria in African children.

The next logical step which has been taken with great success in the production of vaccines against
Covid-19 infection. In this case, what is used to stimulate antibody production is the protein produced in
situ in immunogenic cells following the transcription of mRNA produced in immunocompetent cells. In
Covid-19 the mRNA used in vaccine production of copies of of specific protein withing
immunocompetent cells. The mRNA is enclosed in nano particles which protects it from being destroyed
by RNase as would have been the case if it was freely released withing the blood stream. When the nano
particle is broken within the cell however, the mRNA which was enclosed within the particle is
translated into spike protein which stimulates the production of the relevant antibodies. This is a form of
control release which has been made possible by the development of nano technology in recent years.

No part of the pathogen is used I the preparation of the vaccine which means that there is no danger of
infection of the recipient of the vaccine. Compared to traditional vaccines therefore, mRNA vaccines are
not only safer but are more unlikely to provoke unwanted side-effects.

The specificity of the antigen contained in this novel vaccines improve the quality of the antigen-
antibody reaction which protect those vaccinated with them from the possibility of infection. There is
therefore no need to fortify these vaccines with an adjuvant as is frequently the case with traditional
vaccines. In addition, these group of vaccines induce the production of both cellular and humoral
antibodies and this being the case, they are useful in the establishment of immunological memory which
lengthens the period over which they protect the vaccinated from the relevant organism, in this case,
Covid-19.

One of the main reasons why vaccine deniers have targeted the Covid-19 vaccine is that they are wary of
the possibility of errant DNA being introduced into human genome. These fears are unfounded because
in the first place these vaccines cannot enter the nucleus and therefore, cannot be integrated into the
genome of those who are vaccinated with these vaccines. There is no danger of this happening because
even if the vaccines were to enter the nucleus, the genetic material in them cannot be expressed in any
Way as it requires the action of reverse transcriptase to be changed into DNA. Whilst retroviruses have
the capacity to do this, strands of mRNA are not able to accomplish this transition.

Although Covid vaccines were approved for use within a very short period of time, less than one year,
they were only approved after passing through rigorous tests for effectiveness and safety. By the time
the Covid pandemic took off in 2019, work was already going on in the area of the development of
mRNA vaccines and this work was enhanced by the speedy sequencing of the Covid genome which was
found to consist of no more than….base pairs. From these, the genes responsible for the production of
the spike proteins which are attached to human cell cells during the process of infection were identified.
This means that in the presence of specific antibodies to the spike proteins the virus is not able to attach
itself to the relevant cell and is therefore unable to cause an infection.

The first Covid vaccine to be deployed was the Astra Zeneca vaccine prepared from viral RNA was
released for use in January 2021, only a year since the virus was identified as the organism responsible
for the pandemic which had spread round the world and had infected……..people all round the world
and had caused ……hospital admissions and…… million deaths. This situation had led to lockdowns which
had brought economic activities to a standstill and caused a great deal of suffering which posed a threat
to civilisation itself. It was clear that the spread of the infection had to be drastically reduced to prevent
further damage to all forms of social interactions. The grip of the pandemic was further tightened by the
lack of effective drugs to treat those who had become infected so that the only strategy with which to
cope with the relentless spread of Covid infection was prevention. In spite of the difficulties attending
the widespread administration of the Covid vaccine, the immediate response that was achieved was the
sharp reduction in the rate of infection as soon as the vaccines were deployed. They broke the chain of
transmission of the infection and allowed the world to return to normal within a short period of time as
all the restrictions which had been placed on normal human interactions could be lifted.

There were several difficulties attending the administration of Covid vaccines not least being the need to
maintain their temperature at -200C. this was necessary to maintain the integrity of the nanoparticles
within which the active mRNA was packaged. These difficulties were overcome to a significant extent
which is why the vaccines which were given in two doses were very effective. A third dose was
prescribed when it was observed that a significant minority of persons who had received two doses of
the vaccine were still coming down with the infection. The vaccines were relied upon to break the
transmission of the infection to such an extent that in the immediate aftermath of their deployment,
travellers were denied entrance to most countries without presenting proof of vaccination against
Covid.

Covid vaccines of which there are now many. Were approved for use only after rigorous testing for
safety and effectiveness. For this reason it can be said that Covid vaccines are quite safe even though a
few side effects have been reported. On balance however, the usefulness of Covid vaccines far ourweigh
the risks associated with their use. The mosy frequently reported side effects associated with Covid
vaccines are; pain at the injection site, a sense of fatigue, muscle pain and fever. Perhaps the most
serious side effect associated with these vaccines is the precipitation of potentially fatal blood clots. It
has however been reported the number of people who had developed blood clots after the
administration of Covid vaccines were only marginally greater than what was observed in those who had
not been vaccinated. These observations have endorsed the view that the benefits accruing from the
use of Covid vaccines far outweigh any of the risks associated with their use.

For all the usefulness of available Covid vaccines, there is still a great deal of interest in their further
development because the virus is constantly evolving to produce new variants some of which may be
unaffected by existing vaccies. So far however existing vaccies appear to be effective against existing
variants but there is no room for complacency as the world cannot afford to have to cope with any
resurgence of Covid infection. Covid vaccine development must therefore be a continuous process.

Advs of the Stop TB Paances in the treatment of tuberculosis

The main advances in the treatment of tuberculosis has been the development of new drugs and drug
combinations which can be used to cure the infection in the shortest time possible. The Working Group
on new TB Drugs of the Stop TB Partnership is currently working on the efficacy of of no less than thirty-
one novel compounds from twelve drug classes with different mechanisms of action. These drugs
include sutazolid and delpazolid which, like linezolid have been shown to have good activity against
tuberculosis even though they have demonstrated some undesirable side effects such as peripheral
neuropathy and myelo suppression. These drugs are oxalidinones and have been shown to have good
activity against M. tuberculosis The activity of this group of drugs depends on their ability to stop protein
synthesis by blocking PNA translation ay the molecular level. No other group of drugs used in the
treatment of tuberculosis exploit this mechanism as a means of killing bacteria which means that there
is no pre-existing or cross resistance to any known drugs currently used in the treatment of tuberculosis.
A very important aspect of the use of suteacin is very effective in the treatment of infections causd by
multi resistant tuberculosis zolid in the treatment of tuberrculosis is that the addition of this drug to the
combination of betaquiline, dalamaniol and

moxyfloxin is very effective in the treatment of muti drug resistant tuberculosis. The future of TB
treatment is brighter now than ever before because of the promise of these new drugs with which to
treat TB in a matter of a few weeks rather than months.

Apart from the potential introduction of new drugs, perhaps the most exciting development in the fight
against TB is the development of new and effective vaccines. The only available TB vaccine currently
available is the BCG vaccine which has been in use sice 1913. It is best used in the prevention of TB
infection in children and is one of the vaccines recommended for use in EPI. Its effectiveness in adult
vaccination is quite limited leading the demand for newer and more effective vaccines. There is such a
great interest in this field that there are no less than twenty-four vaccine candidates. These include
protein subunit vaccines (with adjuvants), live attenuated strains, inactivated mycobacteria and viral
vector vaccines. A notable candidate is VPM 1002, a recombinant BCG vaccine on which the Serum
Institute of India is already conduction a phase 3 double blind trial comparing VPM 1002 to BCG in five
African countries. The significance of TB prevention has increased significantly with the rising incidence
of Extensively Multi-resistant Tuberculosis which can be rapidly fatal. The spectacular results achieved
with the curtailment of the spread of Covid-19 has given rise to the possible use of mRNA vaccines to
make a crucial contribution to to the fight against tuberculosis.
Use of monoclonal antibodies in the treatment of AIDS

The use of monoclonal antibodies has now been extended to the suppression of HIV in treatment
experienced patients who are in danger of no longer responding to treatment with anti-retroviral
therapy. In 2018, the FDA approved the use of ibalizumab , a monoclonal antibody preparation in the
treatment of multi-drug resistant HIV in adults. Patients on this drug received 800 mg doses
intravenously every two weeks after a starting dose of 2,000 mg. A Phase 3 study showed that after 24
weeks, 43% of patients on this regiment showed no detectable viremia and 50% had a viral load less
than 200ncopies /ml. 59% of patients were found to be virally suppressed after 48 weeks of treatment.
Further studies have shown that the likelihood of losing viral detectability was 16 to 18 times higher in
patients who were on ibalizumal than those who were not being treated with this drug.

Effects of antibiotics on the microsome

The effectiveness of antibiotics in the treatment of bacterial infections has encouraged the widespread
of this class of drugs over the last eighty years since they were first used in the treatment of bacterial
infections. Antibiotic chemotherapy has been recognised as one of the main contributory factors to the
increase in the life expectancy in the 20th century owing to the significant decline in mortality caused by
infectious diseases ( ),. They have however become excessively relied upon and become associated with
what has been described as a global antibiotic resistance crisis (). This problem has been worsened by
the reported increased use of antibiotics in many parts of the world ()

Scientists have now come to the realisation that apart from the problem of with resistances, antibiotics
have a highly negative impact on gut microbiota which is made up of bacteria, archea, microeukariots
and viruses all of which play a vital part in the maintenance of human health. This is because they
prevent pathogen colonisation, regulate gut immunity and provide essential nutrients and metabolites
which are essential to the efficiency to of the organism as a whole. ()to access