The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Sars vaccine research ‘should have carried on’, says new report
British scientific group suggests it could have better prepared the world for coronavirus
If research into vaccine for previous coronavirus outbreaks had not dwindled when the epidemics died down, the world might have been better prepared to tackle Covid-19, a new report has said.
The report, published by the British Society for Immunology today, said the coronavirus responsible for Covid-19 was not a “complete surprise” to science.
It said that during the Sars outbreak in 2002 to 2004 – caused by a coronavirus similar to Covid-19 – several vaccine candidates had been identified but the research petered out when the epidemic died down.
The report said that “if research had continued, we might have been better prepared to tackle the related Covid-19 pandemic”.
It said that long-term strategic investment in vaccine research was crucial to securing global health against current and emerging diseases.
“Typically, when infectious diseases fade from the headlines, the funding for research dries up too. BRITISH SOCIETY FOR IMMUNOLOGY
It added: “The response from the research community to Covid-19 has been impressive, but it has also highlighted that the world needs to be better prepared for the next pandemic, whatever it may be.
“Typically, when infectious diseases fade from the headlines, the funding for research dries up too.
“If intensive research into coronavirus infections like Sars and Mers had continued in the wake of past outbreaks, we might have been better equipped for tackling Covid-19 today.”
Professor Robin Shattock, of Imperial College London’s Department of Infectious Diseases, is leading a team attempting to develop a coronavirus vaccine.
He said: “Covid-19 has been a wake-up call for how unprepared we are for the speed of a pandemic.
“It’s not so much a technology gap as an investment gap.
“As we recognise the deficiencies of our response to date, we need to ensure there is long-term investment to build and sustain the research, infrastructure and technologies that can provide global and equitable vaccine response capability.”
The report said the global health community could pull policy levers to shift financial incentives to encourage investment and innovation in vaccine development.