Xconomy: How Battling New Epidemics Helps Fight Age-Old Killers
Summary
Additionally, the time needed to achieve regulatory approval for this approach was significantly shortened compared to the typical vaccine development as key agencies met under intense pressure to address this outbreak.Certainly the peer review system is essential for proper vetting of scientific findings, but in this case the rapidity of sharing information with others who were positioned to make an impact on the outbreak outweighed the risks associated with not following this tried-and-true approach.These shifts have now left an imprint on the field, as academics are more open to this idea to advance the other vaccine candidates they are developing in their own labs, with industrial partners willing to respond to the public health need.Scientists are currently trying to put forward a mosquito that blocks the transmission of Zika and dengue fever, but if we cannot make a case to the communities that are affected that this is a good idea, then we may have no right to conduct this effort in their environment.Still, the world would be a much healthier place if the same sense of urgency to stop Ebola and Zika could be applied to HIV/AIDS, TB, malaria, pneumonia, and diarrhea—scourges we have been battling for decades.