Exploring SHE Concepts in the COVID-19 Vaccination Assignment

Assignment Task

Task 1 - Identifying She Concepts In An Article

Below are sections of an article based on Covid-19 vaccinations.

Your task is to highlight the article by identifying where the different SHE concepts are displayed.

Following this, explain how each section you have highlighted links to the SHE concepts specifically.

COVID-19 vaccination: The road ahead

Introduction

The rapid production and clinical development of efficacious vaccines to mitigate the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic has been a testament to decades of research and sequential advances in immunology, vaccinology, and adjuvant biology. Clinically tested in the midst of the battle against COVID-19, the returns have been greater than anticipated, providing new momentum for vaccinology with respect to many other infectious diseases.

Less than a year elapsed between identification of a novel pathogen sequence and wide-scale vaccine rollout. Hundreds of vaccines were developed, more than 100 of these were taken into clinical trials, and some 24 are currently authorized and in use . The hit rate has been high, with only 10 vaccine candidates abandoned because of poor efficacy in clinical trials. However, this scientifically successful vaccinology has been counterbalanced by inequitable global distribution. More than 9 billion doses have been administered-more than enough for one dose to each living person of vaccinable age-yet vaccine distribution is heavily skewed. Half of the planet is currently unvaccinated, and only 4% of populations in low-income countries have received a dose . As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to wreak havoc, events (and mortality) would have been considerably worse without the mitigation effects from successful vaccine programs. It has been challenging to estimate the number of lives saved by COVID-19 vaccines, not least when global fatalities are themselves a source of uncertainty, but estimates are currently in the region of more than 700,000 lives saved.

Vaccine safety

Coming into the COVID-19 global vaccination program, vaccine safety and vaccine hesitancy posed considerable challenges: Variable levels of vaccine hesitancy across countries had the potential to undermine protective coverage, with hesitancy generally linked to safety concerns and/or suspicion of governmental authority. With billions of vaccine doses given across a wide age range in more than 180 countries, the safety record has been good. Vaccination uptake in most countries exceeded initial projections. Noteworthy serious or lethal adverse event reports included anaphylaxis, myocarditis, and occasionally lethal thrombotic events with thrombocytopenia, with some variability across the different vaccine platforms.

Immunological considerations of current SARS-CoV-2 vaccines

For most of the vaccines in wide use, the starting premise had been that the Achilles’ heel of SARS-CoV-2 viral transmission is the interaction between the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of the spike protein and human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), and that an immunogen eliciting high levels of neutralizing antibodies (nAbs) against epitopes at this interface would be effective. This led to a wide range of approaches for expression of spike, stabilized or not, for immune presentation. The mRNA (Pfizer, Moderna) and adenovirus (AstraZeneca, Gamaleya, Johnson & Johnson) vaccine platforms that have predominated clinical development have undergone experimental trials in diverse geographic and disease settings over decades. However, we arrived at clinical trials and COVID-19 vaccine implementation strategies with relatively sparse datasets about key features including immune priming and comparative, long-term, immune memory. It soon became clear that, generally, the mRNA vaccines are outstanding at inducing high nAb responses and the adenovirus vaccines somewhat less so, although they may induce higher T cell responses.

Future vaccine strategies in the face of emerging variants of concern

At the start of vaccine trials, endpoints encompassed the ability to significantly reduce new PCR-confirmed infection, to reduce hospital admissions and mortality, or both. Setting the bar for effective protection at different places along the spectrum—prevention of transmission, of symptomatic disease, of requirement for hospital or intensive therapy unit admission, and of fatal outcome-produces different answers. The current situation in many Western European countries as well as in the US is one of good uptake of potent vaccines, yet there is sufficient susceptibility in the population for a high daily caseload. This translates into high hospital admissions and mortality, although with case numbers blunted relative to the infection waves prior to vaccine rollout.

Concluding remarks

In the face of the global cataclysm of the pandemic, the many strands of the vaccine effort have gone outstandingly well. Effective vaccines were rapidly conceived, manufactured at scale, trialed, licensed, and rolled out, with excellent impact. Even some of the more pessimistic projections of vaccine hesitancy were negated by strong uptake in many countries. We now need strong data to address the next unknowns. This encompasses good early warning for emerging VOCs; optimizing future vaccine strategy in terms of design, number of doses, dosing interval, and approaches to achieve safe, durable, vaccine immunity in both children and adults; and characterization of the optimal strategies to generate truly variant cross-protective immunity, irrespective of prior infection history.

She Paragraph Examples

In your SHE investigation, you will need to write one SHE paragraph. You will practice this now, using the article you previously highlighted for your basis of information.

When writing a SHE paragraph, it is important to follow a general format as such:

1. Explain key scientific information through the lens of your chosen SHE concept

2. Discuss how this information links to/benefits/assists/has limitations for society

Below is an example of two SHE paragraphs based on the topic of edible food packaging. Take note of the clear links to the focus SHE concepts, and the links to society.

Task 2 – Writing A She Paragraph

Your task now is to write a short SHE paragraph based on the covid article you highlighted earlier.

1. Choose the SHE concept you will focus on from the article

2. Complete the table below based on your chosen SHE concept and its links in the article

3. Write your SHE paragraph below, expanding on your summarised information in the table above and remembering to follow a format of…

1. Explain key scientific information through the lens of your chosen SHE concept

2. Discuss how this information links to/benefits/assists/has limitations for society

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