Dem
47
GOP
53
We find the news stories that we use for this feature in a lot of different ways. However, the way that we stumbled on this one is... not the usual. On Wednesday, during a normal appointment, (Z)'s doctor observed that he hadn't had a tetanus shot in 10 years, and that it would be wise to have a booster. So, it was done, and the nurse who administered the shot said, "Your arm may hurt a bit." It would have been more accurate to say, "Your arm may feel like it's going to fall off because it was hit with a Patriot missile."
It's basically OK now, but some googling to see if that was within the realm of "basically normal" led to a very interesting scientific study. One of the biggest issues in vaccination, particularly in poorer countries, even more particularly in poorer hot countries, is refrigeration. Most vaccines have to be kept at a fairly low temperature, which significantly increases both transportation and storage costs. And even then, about half of vaccines go into the garbage, because it was not possible to maintain temperature control until the time the vaccine was administered. To use the parlance of medical and activist groups, the "cold chain" is broken.
Consequently, the U.K.'s National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), which is not run by an anti-vaxx loon, decided to try something new. Taking note of plants that "die" during droughts, but then come back to life when water was available, they dried out a large batch of the tetanus-diphtheria vaccine using trehalose (a sugar that absorbs moisture). Then, the folks at NIHR stored the now-powdered vaccine at room temperature for a year. Once the year was up, they added the water back, put the vaccine in syringes, and inoculated 60 people. Those 60 people's arms probably hurt a lot, but the rehydrated vaccine worked just as well as it would have before it was dried out.
The next phase is a slightly larger clinical trial (160 people). If all goes well, the "fridge-free" vaccine could be on the fast-track to widespread use. The drug is already approved for use, and the drying and rehydrating does not require new approvals in most nations. And while the trehalose technique won't work with mRNA vaccines, it theoretically should work with a large number of others, as well as many non-vaccine medicines that currently need to be refrigerated. This could be very good news indeed for the billions of people who live in countries where people do not have the luxury of being anti-vaxx and anti-science.
Have a good weekend, all! (Z)