The Covid-19 vaccines being rolled out in the UK are a modern day miracle. It is a wonder that such safe and effective vaccines were produced, tested and delivered in such record time – a real triumph of science, which offers hope that our lives will soon return to normal.
But just as remarkable as the speed and efficiency with which these vaccines have been produced is the brand new technology behind some that will change our fight against other infectious diseases and even cancer.
I first saw the power of these new vaccines last March when I spoke to Professor Robin Shattock, head of mucosal infection and immunity at Imperial College London, for a movie I was making about Covid-19.
The Covid vaccines are a modern miracle and offer hope that our lives will soon return to normal
Professor Shattock – whose lab at St Mary’s Hospital, Paddington, is just above the room where Sir Alexander Fleming discovered nearly 100 years ago that a fungus called penicillium can kill bacteria – showed me a refrigerator with a new type of vaccine he hoped to use against Covid.
Usually a vaccine is made with a killed or attenuated strain of the virus it targets.
Once injected, it fools the immune system into thinking it is under attack, giving the body valuable time to set up its defenses before actually attacking it.
Professor Shattock’s approach is very different. Instead of the actual virus, he uses short pieces of genetic material called mRNA (messenger RNA), which contains the code the virus uses to create the club-shaped dots on the surface.
An mRNA vaccine works by triggering the body to produce many copies of those harmless club-shaped spikes.
This stimulates the immune system to produce lots of Covid-specific antibodies and deadly T cells (and to reassure those concerned, these vaccines have nothing to do with genetic engineering; there’s no chance they’ll alter your DNA) .
Two of the three vaccines approved in the UK, the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, are based on this mRNA technology.
Trials of the imperial vaccine are sadly hampered by the success of these other vaccines, but Professor Stattock hopes to carry them out in other countries.
But, as he recently told me, the great thing about mRNA vaccines is that not only are they safe and effective, but if the coronavirus mutates, the current vaccine can be quickly ‘adapted’.
Professor Shattock believes these mRNA vaccines will prove to be a powerful new weapon against Covid-19 as well as a range of other diseases, including influenza, tuberculosis, HIV and cancer.
In addition to fighting infection, one of the most important tasks of your immune system is to detect and destroy cancer cells. The problem is, some cancers evade detection until it’s too late.
However, using mRNA technology, scientists were able to biopsy a patient’s cancer and identify the genes responsible for the ‘mutant’ proteins found in the disease – once they identified those genes, they would tailor a mRNA vaccine. create, with a chemical booster, to activate the immune system to find and destroy the tumor.
If that sounds a bit futuristic, it has in fact already been done. In 2017, researchers at BioNTech, the company that produced the Pfizer Covid vaccine, reported early human trials of this approach in 13 patients with malignant melanoma, all of which showed signs of improvement. To one, a 52-year-old American man whose cancer had spread to his liver, he said, “My tumor started to disappear before my very eyes.”
It’s still early days, but there is hope that the war on Covid-19 will bring about breakthroughs that will improve many more lives over time.
Give the vaccine some va-va-vooM
In the meantime, what can you do to make sure you get the best protection against the Covid shot when you get it?
Since the vaccines are brand new, we’re not sure yet whether lifestyle changes can increase their effectiveness, but based on studies of flu vaccines, here are some strategies you could try:
1 If you are overweight or obese, try to lose a few inches. A study published in the International Journal of Obesity in 2017 found that obese adults with a flu shot were twice as likely to get the flu than those with a healthy BMI (body mass index).
Carrying too much weight, especially around the waist, makes your immune system less effective. (It’s worth highlighting that studies of Covid vaccines have shown that obese people receive a high degree of protection.)
2 Increase your intake of prebiotics and probiotics. Prebiotics are foods rich in fiber that feed the ‘good’ bacteria in your gut – they include kidney beans, lentils, garlic, onions and many vegetables.
Probiotics are live bacteria mainly found in fermented foods such as sauerkraut, kimchi and natural yogurt.
A review of studies published in the journal Nutrients in 2017 found that consuming prebiotics and probiotics before being vaccinated nearly doubled the number of people who subsequently developed protective levels of antibodies.
For easy recipes to boost your good bacteria, visit instagram.com/drclarebailey.
3 Get a good night’s rest. In a study from the University of California last year, researchers found that healthy volunteers who slept the least the night before a flu shot produced the lowest levels of antibodies to the flu in the following months.
This is because your body makes many important components of your immune system, such as antibodies and deadly T cells, during your sleep.
4 Train your arms. A study from the University of Birmingham a few years ago showed that people who did this a few hours before a flu shot developed a stronger immune response. It’s not clear why, but I will definitely be doing some push-ups and other arm workouts for my jab.
5 Stop smoking. A number of studies suggest that smoking can really decrease the effectiveness of vaccines – likely because of its effect on the immune system.
Quarantined hotels are a bad idea … and I should know
I was surprised to learn that the government is seriously considering introducing quarantine hotels, similar to those in New Zealand and Australia, to try to reduce the threat of coronavirus variants entering the UK.
I think this is a really bad idea. To begin with, I suspect that it is already much too late to prevent new variants from creeping in.
One thing we’ve learned from the past ten months is that this virus is moving fast and often seems to have many more steps ahead of us (until the new vaccines get paid for it).
And while border closures and the use of quarantine hotels have worked extremely well in countries like Australia and New Zealand, the virus is too deeply rooted here to do so.
There is also a significant disadvantage, in terms of mental health, of asking people to remain confined to a small room with no daylight for an extended period of time.
After recently spending two weeks in a quarantine hotel in Australia with my wife, Clare, I can assure you it’s a huge challenge.
You don’t get a choice of hotel or room, paying between £ 1,500 and £ 2,500 for the dubious pleasure of being locked up 24 hours a day (our room faced a brick wall). I have mild claustrophobia and there were times when I wasn’t sure I could tolerate it.
The worst part is that you are not allowed to leave your room even for a short walk (which is clearly difficult for the 72 tennis stars now in such a Melbourne hotel prior to the Australian Open).
A friend who stayed at one of these hotels said she once heard someone yelling in the next room for hours. When she called the front desk, she was told not to worry – ‘they’re probably just having a panic attack’.
If you ever find yourself in a situation like this, you need a very calm and reassuring companion like Clare.