2024-01-17 23:23:26
A group of international medical centers, established at the University of Alberta, is looking into very rare side effects of COVID-19 vaccines. The aim of the project is to improve the evaluation process of future vaccines and, therefore, improve the response to infectious threats.
The International Network of Immunization Special Services (INSIS) wants to determine how a vaccine triggers these side effects by analyzing the types of cells and molecules in human blood samples.
INSIS will use data from around the world to compare information on people who have experienced very rare side effects and those who have not.
An adverse reaction is considered very rare when it affects less than 0.001% of the population and tends to be detected once vaccines are distributed to the population.
This is explained by the fact that clinical trials generally include a limited number of participants, who do not necessarily represent the entire population in all its diversity, as specified by INSIS.
When a vaccine is distributed to millions of people, more individuals with different health conditions and genetic backgrounds will receive it, which can result in very rare side effects.
For safer vaccines
Karina Top, a professor in the Department of Medicine and Dentistry at the University of Alberta, co-leads the research project.
The safety bar for vaccines is very high, because we give them to healthy people so they don’t get sick, she explained in a press release.
We don’t want [les effets indésirables très rares] occur. So we want to know why this is the case to prevent them in the future, she added, specifying that INSIS hopes to help manufacturers develop even safer vaccines.
The University of Alberta considers the project essential to achieving the 100 Day Mission, which aims to limit the development of vaccines against such pathogenic threats with pandemic potential to just 100 days after their identification.
Jakob Cramer, director of clinical development at the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), says reducing pathogen vaccine development to 100 days will be key to combating future threats of pandemic.
INSIS is funded to the tune of $15.3 million by CEPI, a foundation which aims to improve the effectiveness of vaccines.
The network brings together researchers from the University of Alberta, the BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute, the Boston Children’s Hospital in the United States and the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute in Australia.
Vaccines are “effective”
INSIS recalls that vaccines are effective tools that help to eradicate deadly diseases such as smallpox.
They save 2 to 3 million children per year, and they help fight certain types of cancer, such as those of the cervix and throat.
In the same vein, INSIS judges that the impact of vaccines against COVID-19 has been even more striking, since they have saved 20 million lives.
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