These vaccines offer several advantages over shots using older technology. They seem to activate not just the antibodies that neutralize a virus but also the memory and T-cells that keep the immune defense alert for the long-term.
Viral-vector vaccines also can be designed and manufactured relatively quickly, using the same basic building blocks, to fight an emerging infectious-disease outbreak. Scientists say the technology could yield approved vaccines against other infectious diseases, such as Zika and influenza.
Two viral-vector Ebola vaccines have been cleared for use. And a related technology uses the same technology for gene therapies to treat some cancers and rare genetic diseases.
“The future for pandemic response is that we want something along the lines of what J&J has done, a single shot able to induce immunity,” said Deborah Fuller, a vaccine researcher and professor of microbiology at the University of Washington School of Medicine.
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