WEBVTT - Scientists Making One Vaccine for Many Coronaviruses

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<v Speaker 1>It's Friday, October eight. I'm oscar A Mirrors from the

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<v Speaker 1>Daily Dive podcast in Los Angeles, and this is reopening America.

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<v Speaker 1>Scientists are constantly working on averting the next pandemic, and

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<v Speaker 1>one avenue that is being pursued is a so called

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<v Speaker 1>pan coronavirus vaccine. This would be a shot that could

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<v Speaker 1>block many related viruses all in one. Although still years away,

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<v Speaker 1>they're trying to develop a vaccine that can protect you

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<v Speaker 1>from everything from COVID variant to the common cold. Betsy McKay,

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<v Speaker 1>senior writer at The Wall Street Journal, joins us for

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<v Speaker 1>the effort to make a universal vaccine. Thanks for joining us, Betsy,

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<v Speaker 1>It's nice to be here. Thanks. So we're obviously still

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<v Speaker 1>going through the COVID pandemic right now, trying to get

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<v Speaker 1>as many people as we can vaccinated, but there's a

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<v Speaker 1>lot of forward thinking we're looking toward, you know, what

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<v Speaker 1>could be happening next. And one of the things that

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<v Speaker 1>scientists are working on is kind of this idea of

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<v Speaker 1>a universal or pan coronavirus vaccines, a single vaccine that

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<v Speaker 1>could work for many different types of coronaviruses. As we know,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, we've had a learning course over the course

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<v Speaker 1>of this pandemic. These coronaviruses cause anything from the common cold.

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<v Speaker 1>We've seen stars, we've seen mers, you know a lot

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<v Speaker 1>of different things. So scientists are working for a big

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<v Speaker 1>catch all type of vaccines. So that's to help us

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<v Speaker 1>walk through some of it. What are we learning, Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>I mean the idea that researchers in emerging infections disease

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<v Speaker 1>are working toward our vaccines that basically protect you against

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<v Speaker 1>the whole family of viruses or a group of viruses

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<v Speaker 1>that are problematic, and in this case, it would be

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<v Speaker 1>coronaviruses and within that the stars like viruses they call them.

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<v Speaker 1>There's a technical term for it. We'll leave it at that.

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<v Speaker 1>And it's basically the virus that is affecting us now,

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<v Speaker 1>causing the pandemic, but also caused stars in two thousands three,

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<v Speaker 1>and it looks like there are several that can infect humans.

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<v Speaker 1>So the idea is you create one vaccine that targets

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<v Speaker 1>all of those viruses at once, and then if another

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<v Speaker 1>one comes along, it's very likely that the vaccine would

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<v Speaker 1>protect it against it or protect against it enough to

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<v Speaker 1>stop an outbreak from becoming bigger. And we're seeing this

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<v Speaker 1>being worked on, you know, through the the U. S. Army,

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<v Speaker 1>the branches of the of Walter Reid of Walter Read

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<v Speaker 1>Medical Center to you know, you know, it's there's a

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<v Speaker 1>lot of effort. There's other groups that are also working

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<v Speaker 1>on this. There's a lot of effort into it. So

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<v Speaker 1>I talked to several researchers and one was at the

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<v Speaker 1>Walter Read Army Institute of Research, who said, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>these types of vaccines we've kind of targeting, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>a universal vaccine is sort of the way out of

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<v Speaker 1>this pandemic and also sort of the cycle of epidemics.

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<v Speaker 1>I mean, researchers in this field have been battling one

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<v Speaker 1>epidemic after another over the past decade or two, and

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<v Speaker 1>so so they're developing one and others are developing vaccine

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<v Speaker 1>that would target both the stars like viruses. As I said,

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<v Speaker 1>so both the variants of the current virus and maybe

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<v Speaker 1>somebody onto it, some that would that would um prevent

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<v Speaker 1>the next you know, some that might be the next

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<v Speaker 1>pandemic virus. One of the issues is we have a

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<v Speaker 1>very effective vaccines right now, but everybody's worried about what

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<v Speaker 1>if another variant comes along that the vaccines we have

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<v Speaker 1>now doesn't work against and we don't want to be

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<v Speaker 1>back to square one. So the idea is, if you

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<v Speaker 1>can get a vaccine that would neutralize, as they say,

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<v Speaker 1>any variant, then there's less to worry about. You know,

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<v Speaker 1>we don't we know that we'll have something in the

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<v Speaker 1>armament if that doesn't happen. Hopefully it doesn't, but it

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<v Speaker 1>may be needed to end the pandemic. You know, and

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<v Speaker 1>in this case of a universal type vaccine, this is

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<v Speaker 1>going to be something that's going to take a longer time.

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<v Speaker 1>You know. It's not going to be like the COVID vaccine,

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<v Speaker 1>which you know was done all on the up and up,

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<v Speaker 1>but you know, it did happen pretty fast. This is

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<v Speaker 1>gonna be a lot slower pace because they need to

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<v Speaker 1>kind of catch all the other viruses associated with it.

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<v Speaker 1>And so how do they actually do that, because you know,

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<v Speaker 1>I'm engining, you know, just an extra large syringe, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>a bunch of extra stuff that they're packing into one shot.

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<v Speaker 1>But they really kind of start off with with one

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<v Speaker 1>and start layering things on top of the other, looking

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<v Speaker 1>for those similarities and those viruses so they can kind

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<v Speaker 1>of hope to avoid those. Yeah, exactly one thing you

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<v Speaker 1>do if you look in the blood of people who've

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<v Speaker 1>been infected for antibodies. They're called broadly neutralizing antibodies, so

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<v Speaker 1>basically antibodies that look like they would fight off several

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<v Speaker 1>different types of coronaviruses. And then you use those too,

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<v Speaker 1>sort of reverse engineer and figure out what would a

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<v Speaker 1>vaccine have to look like. Now, Walter read, what they

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<v Speaker 1>are doing is they they created designed what's called a nanoparticle,

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<v Speaker 1>a very small particle looks like a small soccer ball,

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<v Speaker 1>and they stick copies of spike proteins all over. I

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<v Speaker 1>think we all know these days what a spike protein is,

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<v Speaker 1>but if we don't, it's a piece. It's the piece

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<v Speaker 1>of a coronavirus that sticks out and is actually responsible

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<v Speaker 1>for infecting yourself. And the idea is that becomes part

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<v Speaker 1>of a vaccine and when it's injected into you, it

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<v Speaker 1>will help your body develop antibodies against several viruses. The

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<v Speaker 1>ideas you put you put spike proteins for different coronaviruses

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<v Speaker 1>on there, or what you look for on a variety

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<v Speaker 1>of related viruses. Are pieces of the spike proteins that

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<v Speaker 1>are similar across the viruses, so and you can target that.

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<v Speaker 1>So it's from that or studying several viruses at once.

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<v Speaker 1>Are these going to be mRNA type vaccines like maderna advisor?

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<v Speaker 1>Are they looking at different ways to make this this

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<v Speaker 1>universal one? So there are different technologies being used. At

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<v Speaker 1>the University of North Carolina researchers did a study using

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<v Speaker 1>the mRNA technology. Others are using other technologies, and so

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<v Speaker 1>you could end up with several front types. Right now,

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<v Speaker 1>they're at the stage of testing these vaccine candidates in

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<v Speaker 1>animals and testing them for a few basically the stars

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<v Speaker 1>like viruses right to see if if they'll work against that.

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<v Speaker 1>If they do, then the next step would be to

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<v Speaker 1>broaden even further and try to protect it against an

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<v Speaker 1>even broader group of coronaviruses that would include Middle East

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<v Speaker 1>respiratory syndrome. So first they're trying to get the structure

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<v Speaker 1>of the vaccine right, and once they do that, then

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<v Speaker 1>they can start putting in pieces of other viruses and

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<v Speaker 1>see if they can kind of generate that broad protection

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<v Speaker 1>that you would need in order to be protected against

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<v Speaker 1>the family of viruses. Well, I mean it's a it's

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<v Speaker 1>a great effort, as I mentioned, there's a lot of

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<v Speaker 1>energy behind it and it would be would be pretty

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<v Speaker 1>amazing to get something that could be more broadly protective.

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<v Speaker 1>So this is looking toward the future and hopefully we

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<v Speaker 1>can get there. Betsy Mackay, Senior writer at The Wall

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<v Speaker 1>Street Journal, you very much for joining us. Thank you

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<v Speaker 1>as always for having me. I'm all Scar Ramiers and

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<v Speaker 1>this has been reopening America. Don't forget that. For today's

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<v Speaker 1>big news stories, you can check me out on the

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<v Speaker 1>Daily Dive podcast every Monday to Friday. So follow us

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<v Speaker 1>on I Heart Radio or wherever you get your podcast.