With the rise of global health threats such as Covid-19, vaccine development and distribution have become a crucial frontline defense. Despite their importance, vaccines are often not the first step in the new pandemic due to the time needed to create, test and confirm their safety. Among these gaps, simpler health measures such as mask wear and social distancing provide some level of protection. But as climate change affects the spread of diseases and international travel continues to grow, respiratory diseases may have increasingly impacted. On this issue, this is a new proposal, a major advancement for international pre-developed vaccine candidates, known as Intevax™, which is a key step forward. Supported by global collaboration and shared resources, this idea is designed to prepare and respond quickly to future health crises.
In an unprecedented global health program, a team led by Professor Weikuan Gu and Lan Yao, Hiam Chemaitelly, Emanuel Goldman and others have proposed the Forming InterneStax™ recommendations, as detailed in its recent publication in Eclinicalmedicine. The proposed pool is committed to fighting potentially highly infectious respiratory diseases and represents a transformative approach to pandemic preparation, highlighting the urgent need for a joint effort to combat emerging infectious threats.
Professor Weikuan Gu and his colleagues believe that the current vaccine development is too slow to effectively resist the rapid spread of such diseases. They proposed a proactive strategy to create a repository of vaccine candidates to address new threats in preparation for rapid deployment.
Professor Weikuan Gu emphasized: “The mission of the International Vaccine Pool Intevax™ is to establish a foundation to accelerate vaccine development to prevent potential future respiratory infectious disease pandemic threats, so that vaccines can be used by anyone in need.” The goal of Intervax™ is introduced to combine resources, knowledge and technologies from around the world to facilitate a collaborative environment for vaccine development.
The program will focus on gathering information about known viruses and developing potential vaccines that will initially be tested using animal models for safety. The goal is to ensure that everyone has access to effective vaccines, especially in areas with the most risk of outbreaks.
A key feature of the proposal is its focus on international cooperation and equity. Professor GU further explained: “The international vaccine pool will operate independently, but its collaboration with existing vaccine research and production organizations will be enhanced by potential resources from WHO and CDCs from various countries.” This approach ensures vaccine development The benefits are shared globally, addressing the differences that are often seen in healthcare.
With pre-tested vaccine candidates, the response time in the face of the new pandemic may be greatly shortened, potentially saving many lives. This approach also hopes to reduce the economic impact of the pandemic, thereby allowing society and economy to recover faster. The establishment of Intevax™ is not only a necessity of science and medicine, but also a moral obligation. It represents a commitment to global health security, ensuring that life-saving vaccines can be used by all countries, regardless of their economic conditions, during the crisis. This initiative could mark a turning point in how the world prepares for future pandemic technologies, emphasizing unity, preparation and shared responsibility in protecting global health.
Journal Reference
Lan Yao, Hiam Chemaitelly, Emanuel Goldman et al., “It’s time to build an international vaccine candidate pool to achieve potentially highly infectious respiratory diseases: a community perspective.” Eclinicalmedicine, 2023. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eclinm.2023.102222
About the Author
Dr. Gu An outstanding teacher and researcher. He quickly contributed to the research community. Dr. GU specializes in functional genomics of skeletal and osteoporosis. His research includes identifying genes in mice that affect bone fragility in joint bones to evaluate their effects on human bone density and to determine the roles and genes involved in the impact of IGF-I on lifespan. The funded research is the isolation and sequencing of mutant genes that produce skeletal diseases in mice and the identification of genes that affect the development of spontaneous arthritis in mice. Dr. GU has many peer-reviewed publications and scientific speeches. Dr. GU has published 150 peer-reviewed publications, ten books and one book.
Lan Yao, Assistant Professor Ph.D. She graduated from the Health Outcome and Policy Research Program at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in 2021. She has also worked in regional hospitals as a research assistant, working on programs on the HIV/HPV African American population. She served as assistant professor and director of public health program at Ball State University’s School of Health. Since September 2023, she has been working at the School of Health Management, Harbin Medical University, China.
She has published 14 articles on Eclinicalmedicine (part of Lancet). Total environment and science of BMJ journals, cumulative impact factor of 80, most cited articles over 160 times. She completed two research grants. Dr. Yao is the special issue editor of the journal Personalized Medicine and Medicine. She is a peer reviewer for Environmental Science and Pollution Research, Cogent Medicine, the International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction and Epidemiology and Infection, where she joins the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine and the Institute of Clinical and Translational Sciences in Tennessee.
