Memories of polio drive COVID vaccine subject
Completes a circle for her with vaccines
Patricia Iams remembers how big a deal it was when, at 8 years old, she lined up in school in 1955 to get the polio vaccine. Decades later, that memory is one of the many things that pushed her to join a local coronavirus vaccine trial.
Iams, now 73, of Upper Arlington was the first person to participate in a vaccine trial at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. Iams was injected with either the vaccine or a placebo on Nov. 10 and will return for a second shot in December.
“I remember from childhood that polio was so scary and our parents were even more scared,” Iams said. “If this makes a difference, then I want to be part of it.”
Although a polio vaccine was discovered in 1955, Iams recalled similar circumstances surrounding the leadup to one. She remembers her parents
not allowing her to swim at the community pool, for fear that she’d catch the disease.
Like COVID-19, which has killed more than 250,000 Americans including nearly 6,000 Ohioans, polio is considered one of the most dreaded diseases of all time. Polio typically paralyzed up to 20,000 Americans per year in the early 1950s and killed between 2% and 5% of children who contracted it and up to 30% of adults with it, according to the Immunization Action Coalition, based in Saint Paul,
Minnesota.
While a polio vaccine took 20 years to develop, results for the COVID-19 vaccine Ohio State is testing could be published in record time by the end of the year, according to Astrazeneca, the company producing it.
The drug maker has produced the potential vaccine, called AZD1222, in partnership with the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It is also part of the United States’ Operation Warp Speed, which has pumped billions of dollars into COVID research to expedite the creation of a vaccine.
The university is seeking 500 volunteers to participate while Astrazeneca is looking to enroll about 30,000 people total at 80 locations across the country, according to Ohio State.
Half of the participants for Astrazeneca’s clinical trials will receive the potential vaccine and the other half will receive a placebo. They will then have blood samples drawn and follow up with medical experts over two years, according to Ohio State.
“I think it’s important because the entire world is in need of a vaccine. There isn’t going to be any one company to do it,” said Dr. Susan Koletar, director of infectious diseases at Ohio State who is overseeing the trial. “We’re going to need a lot of options.”
Though it could be another two months before Astrazeneca’s full trial results are available, the data is already in on potential vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer.
Both companies have said their vaccines are 95% effective. Pfizer applied Friday for emergency authorization from the Food and Drug Administration and will begin distributing the shots immediately after approval.
While the vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer use different technology than the Astrazeneca version Ohio State is testing, their success bodes well for it, said Dr. Kelly Moore, associate director of education for the national Immunization Action Coalition and a professor of health policy at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee.
Each of the three vaccine candidates targets a spike protein found on the virus that causes COVID-19. The spiky or crown-like surface of the virus gives the disease its name and allows it to attach to human cells once it enters a person’s body.
Since the vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer have proven successful, it’s likely Astrazeneca’s will too, Moore said. “Everybody’s bet was pretty much on the spike protein on the surface of the virus. What Pfizer and Moderna’s vaccines show us is that was the right target,” Moore said. “That’s good news for the whole field of vaccines being studied because hitting the right target is half the battle.”
It’s likely that more than one or two successful vaccines will be needed to end the pandemic, Moore said.
Over time, Moore said, some could prove to work better in certain age and demographic groups. That’s where vaccines from Astrazeneca, Johnson & Johnson and other companies could be helpful.
Early data from the Astrazeneca trial shows the vaccine appears effective in older adults, a group of people in whom vaccines aren’t always as strong. In a
Thursday announcement, Astrazeneca also said that in 100% of participants it found high levels of neutralizing antibodies, an immune system protein that can defend one’s body against COVID-19 and might prevent symptoms altogether.
If protection from vaccines ends up lasting long enough, it’s thought they could bring COVID-19 to heel as they have other diseases, such as polio.
It took 24 years to eradicate polio in the United States. With a few exceptions, the U.S. has largely been poliofree since 1979, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Iams hopes it won’t take quite so long for forthcoming vaccines to make COVID-19 disappear. After spending her career as a nurse, Iams said she thinks a vaccine is critical to ending the pandemic.
“People just don’t see (polio) anymore, but I know how bad that had been. … It made a big difference to have a vaccine,” Iams said. “I don’t think we’ll really be able to deal with this COVID until we have a vaccine.” mfilby@dispatch.com @Maxfilby