The Unsung Vaccine Ingredient That Could Help Protect More People Against Covid-19
Experts say so-called adjuvants in Covid-19 vaccines could enhance the immune response and produce longer-lasting immunity
It may seem like overkill that there are currently at least 29 Covid-19 vaccines in clinical trials, all of them designed to train the immune system to fight the coronavirus by recognizing a single protein, called spike (S), on its surface. But what sets all these candidates apart from one another is the various ways they deliver S protein, and whether they contain so-called adjuvants — special molecules that rev up the immune response against the coronavirus.
Many of the vaccine candidates that were the first to enter clinical trials actually don’t contain adjuvants because they already have some built-in immune-boosting activity. For example, the Pfizer vaccine, which appears to be 90% effective according to recent preliminary analysis, contains genetic material (mRNA), which has some inherent immune-stimulating power, and cranks out S protein once inside the body of the vaccinated person to coax the same kind of immune response (or better) as a natural infection would cause. The big benefit of this technology was speed of development and production, and adding anything extra…
