Host: The Japanese Society of Toxicology
Preventive vaccines have been one of the most successful medical technologies since their invention through to the present day. The pathogens that cause infections in humans include parasites, protozoans (eukaryotic unicellular microorganisms), fungi (molds), bacteria, and viruses. The COVID-19 virus causing so many problems today is a member of the coronavirus family, which also includes the common cold, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS). The pandemic caused by this novel coronavirus has highlighted anew the importance and urgency of vaccine research.
New types of vaccines are currently emerging, and vaccinations are being administered at a hitherto-unprecedented speed especially the ones made by mRNA and Adenovirus as new modalities of vaccine platform. In particular, nucleic acid such as DNA and RNA as vaccine platforms to create mock-up vaccines in advance would enable the optimal vaccine to be produced swiftly by introducing into them a modularized antigen tailored to the pathogen concerned. Potential issues in regulation of such new modality will be discussed.
