4. The Curious Case of the Adenoviral Vector Vaccines

The Vax Files

Adenoviral vector vaccines are seen as the vaccine for the world given that they are cheaper to produce and easier to distribute versus mRNA vaccines. We learn about their development in the lab and challenges that have been overcome, while experts discuss possible roadblocks of pre-existing immunity that may impact future efficacy. While AstraZeneca's confusing interim results get dissected, experts look ahead to results from Johnson & Johnson's single shot vaccine, which could be a pandemic game changer if successful. Finally, experts discuss the safety of these vaccines especially after both AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson’s trials had to be paused for safety last year. Expert Guests:

-- Dr Yves Van Laethem is a retired virologist from Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Saint-Pierre and is currently the spokesperson for the fight against coronavirus in Belgium.

-- Dr Deborah Fuller is a Professor of Microbiology at The University of Washington School of Medicine. A veteran vaccinologist and researcher, she has been working on vaccine development for the last 30 years with specific research around DNA and RNA technologies.

-- Dr Craig Laferriere is a consultant on vaccine design and manufacturing with over 25 years experience in vaccine manufacturing, design and licensing. He is the head of vaccine development at Novateur and has previously worked on vaccine development for GlaxoSmithKline and Pfizer.

-- Dr Nikolai Petrovsky is a Professor of Medicine, Flinders University in Australia and vice-president and secretary general of the International Immunomics Society. He is the founder of vaccine biotech Vaccine, which has a protein based candidate in early development for Covid-19.

-- Dr Sam Sun is a resident physician at the Baylor College of Medicine and Director of InDemic, a non-profit research tool providing expert knowledge and analytics on the management of the Covid-19 pandemic.