MIT Consortium looks at race for a vaccine and how fast is too fast?

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In their fourth consortium regarding the pandemic, called "Catalyst Conversations", researchers and scientists today spoke from their respective Zoom locations - including a cool ocean backdrop in England - to weigh in on the future of vaccines. Balancing the need for speed with safety is on everyone's minds these days, and definitely here in the States where President Trump even coined his team's efforts "Operation Warp Speed."
While globally, effective vaccines and therapies to control the Covid-19 pandemic are weighing on everyone's minds, the reality is that every race has its cost. Today one of the panelists cited the comparison to an airplane, that "we are trying to build the airplane while flying it" and only later said darkly that there is a reason that of course, no one flies an airplane while it's being buit.
Removing competitive barriers to encourage open science around antiviral and vaccine candidates, conjoining data standards, and establishing novel testing methods were all covered in today's event. Speakers were hosted by MilliporeSigma, a life science company, in collaboration with Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) Center for Collective Intelligence and MIT Media Lab’s Community Biotechnology Initiative. Speaking were: David Onions, a UK-based independent consultant and biologist with an impressive background working with FDA and WHO safety issues; Audrey Cheng, Head of Process Solutions Services Research and Development with Merck KGaA in Darmstadt, Germany; Jared Silverman of the Bill and Melinda Gates Medical Research Institute; and moderator Karl Smieder of messagingLAB.
Of particular note during the talks were Onion's insistence that one needs to be better prepared for the inevitable future pandemic. "Every government was underprepared," including for example a lack of PCR. "We need a strategic overcapacity" of items to address future pandemics, he said. He explained that the zoonotic nature of viruses such as the present novel coronavirus will hardly be scant in the future. "Think: What will be the next problem?
He spoke of viruses jumping from species including monkeys, dogs, and the present Covid-19-related bats. "People have been reluctant to spend money but maybe we need to spend some of our tax money for anti-virals we think will jump species in the future."
Other speakers stressed the obvious need for safety when trying out vaccines, as shown by the recent turnabout by the Oxford study. Yet interestingly it was mentioned that it is not known that the vaccine conclusively caused the ill reaction - which is something to bear in mind for future trials. Smieder said, "When a trial is paussed what does that tell us?" Cheng said it shows that "this is biology - this is why we do studies in a very controlled fashion" and learn as "we go along."
For more information on the Lab and their consortiums, please visit their pages for collaborators and interested persons: The series is hosted by global life science leader MilliporeSigma in collaboration with Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) Center for Collective Intelligence and MIT Media Lab’s Community Biotechnology Initiative.
Image: By Dominique Vivant Denon

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