All you need to know about Vaccines and Vaccine Trials

Vaccines are an effective way of safeguarding health and preventing disease severity and, in some cases, instances of disease conditions altogether. The World Health Organization has stated that increased awareness about vaccines and improved Government initiatives have saved 2-3 million deaths annually. This underlines the importance of vaccines and the imperative to develop safe and effective vaccines distributed across the globe.

In 2020, the global vaccine market size was nearly 55 billion USD, and it is projected to grow to 125 billion USD by 2028. There have been large-scale initiatives to utilize vaccine technology in the fight against multiple infectious diseases, including tuberculosis, malaria, HIV, and recently, COVID-19.

Navitas Life Sciences Helps move from Lab to Jab Quickly and Effectively

We have over 30 years of experience in conducting clinical trials, and we understand the intricacies of managing vaccine trials and the challenges posed, instituting key measures to overcome these challenges. From phase I to phase IV, we support clinical trials from startup to closure with our regulatory insights and quality approach.

Our services are backed by technology & analytics are explicitly developed to tide over operational hurdles and ensure quick and cost-efficient market reach.

On account of the recently concluded World Immunization Week, 2022, we met with Dr. Subhrojyoti Bhowmick, M.D, FISQua (UK), Clinical Director for the Academics, Quality and Clinical Research Depts, Peerless Hospital, Kolkata, India, Honorary Lecturer, Institute of Clinical Sciences, University of Birmingham, UK, to gain insights about vaccines.

Dr. Bhowmick has previously volunteered for the Patient Safety Unit, World Health Organisation (WHO), Geneva and worked at the Stanford University School of Medicine,Dept.of Orthopedic Surgery, US. He is also the founding President of the Patient Safety and Clinical Quality forum of Kolkata.

Is natural immunity better than vaccine acquired immunity?

While vaccinations are highly effective at protecting against infection and severe COVID-19 disease, published medical literature on vaccination review demonstrates that natural immunity in COVID-recovered individuals is, at least, equivalent to the protection afforded by complete vaccination of COVID-naïve populations.

Why does everyone need to get vaccinated against COVID-19?

Getting vaccinated is a powerful tool that will help save lives and end the pandemic sooner. When more of us are vaccinated, the more we protect ourselves and our loved ones against COVID-19 and other variants. Increased vaccination in the community will help us achieve herd immunity which will stall the pandemic surge across the globe. We need to remember, “No one is safe until everyone is safe”; hence all need to get their covid-19 vaccine.

Dr. Subhrojyoti Bhowmick,
M.D, FISQua (UK),

Clinical Director for the Academics, Quality and Clinical Research Depts,
Peerless Hospital, Kolkata, India

Honorary Lecturer, Institute of Clinical Sciences, University of Birmingham, UK.

Do you think the importance of vaccination has received greater attention post COVID?

Yes, vaccination has received greater attention Post Covid-19 because of Government initiatives and awareness campaigns. Constant media coverage of the benefit of immunization has resulted in increased attention among the public.

Navitas Life Sciences’ Vaccine Expertise

Some Immunology / Vaccines studies include

Allergic Asthma, Allergic Conjunctivitis, Allergic Rhinitis, Allergy, Chronic Thrombocytopenic Purpura, Hepatitis B Liver Transplanted Patients, Psoriasis (anti-metabolite), Renal Transplantation with Immunosuppressant Therapy, Infant Vaccination, COVID-19 vaccine

Why aren’t all vaccines 100% effective?

Vaccines are designed to generate an immune response that will protect the vaccinated individual during future exposures to the disease. However, individual immune systems are different enough that, in some cases, a person’s immune system will not generate an adequate response. As a result, they will not be effectively protected after immunization. That said, the effectiveness of most vaccines is high. After receiving the second dose of the MMR vaccine (measles, mumps, and rubella) or the standalone measles vaccine, 99.7% of vaccinated individuals are immune to measles. The inactivated polio vaccine offers 99% effectiveness after three doses. The varicella (chickenpox) vaccine is between 85% and 90% effective in preventing all varicella infections but 100% effective in preventing moderate and severe chickenpox.

Why do some vaccines require boosters?

It’s not completely understood why the length of acquired immunity varies with different vaccines. Some offer lifelong immunity with only one dose, while others require boosters in order to maintain immunity. Recent research has suggested that the persistence of immunity against a particular disease may depend on the speed with which that disease typically progresses through the body. If the disease progresses very rapidly, the immune system’s memory response (that is, the “watchdog antibodies” generated after previous infection or vaccination) may not be able to respond quickly enough to prevent infection—unless they’ve been “reminded” about the disease fairly recently and are already watching for it. Boosters serve as a “reminder” to your immune system and are hence recommended for the disease which can cause considerable morbidity and mortality.

Why is an allergy to eggs a contraindication to getting some vaccines?

Vaccines that contain small quantities of egg protein can cause hypersensitivity reactions in some people with egg allergies. Adverse reactions are more likely with vaccines, such as yellow fever and influenza vaccines grown in embryonated eggs. In contrast, measles and mumps vaccine viruses, most widely used in Canada, are produced in chick embryo cell culture. Even after extensive purification, final vaccine products may contain trace quantities of avian proteins resembling proteins present in hens’ eggs.

Do vaccines lead to/cause autism?

No. Vaccines do not cause autism. This possibility was publicized after a 1998 paper by a British physician who claimed to have found evidence that the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine was linked to autism. The potential link has been thoroughly explored; study after study has found no such link, and the original 1998 study has been formally withdrawn by The Lancet, which had initially published it. Further studies were conducted to understand the possibility of a link between the preservative thimerosal used in some vaccines and autism; again, no such link was found.

What are the recent developments in vaccine technology?

• Traditional vaccine technologies are based on killed/inactivated and live/attenuated approaches.
• Novel killed/inactivated vaccination strategies include antigen subunit, protein, and peptide vaccines.
• Novel live/attenuated vaccination strategies include modified live, marker/differentiating infected from vaccinated animals, vector, and nucleic acid vaccines.

Navitas Life Sciences’ Vaccine Expertise

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