When word broke this week that the Department of Health and Human Services was investing half-a-billion dollars on a National Institutes of Health project to develop a vaccine platform for pathogens that could trigger pandemics, a number of scientists who work in the field of vaccinology had decidedly mixed feelings.
That HHS and NIH are going to continue to invest in efforts to make vaccines that could reduce the impact of future pandemics was good news, many thought. But why spend so much money on using whole killed viruses — an approach pioneered in the last century — as the basis of the vaccines?
“I was confused by the messaging, because it is a 70-year-old technology,” said one scientist who works in vaccine development, noting this was the method used by Jonas Salk to create the world’s first polio vaccine in the early 1950s.
This article is exclusive to STAT+ subscribers
Unlock this article — plus in-depth analysis, newsletters, premium events, and news alerts.
Already have an account? Log in
