Vaccine effectiveness will improve
Dr. Osterhaus predicted better times are coming in terms of vaccine effectiveness. Vaccine production times will become shorter as recombinant technologies replace the traditional lengthy chicken egg-based vaccine production; as a result, there will be less drift-associated mismatch. Improved surveillance, including the ability to follow strain mobility patterns and population-based antibody landscapes, are another important advance.
“We’ve always been looking at one side of the coin: the virus. Once or twice a year eminent gray people sitting together in Geneva at WHO decide which strains should be selected for the next vaccine. But if you know what antibodies are present in the population, this can be quite important information as well,” he said.
Dr. Nohynek reported receiving research funding from GlaxoSmithKline and Pfizer. The other speakers reported having no relevant financial conflicts of interest.