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Accurate information about the development and production of COVID-19 vaccines is essential, especially because many proposed candidates use newer molecular technologies for production of a viral vaccine. One concern regarding the ethical assessment of viral vaccine candidates is the potential use of abortion-derived cell lines in the development, production or testing of a vaccine. This analysis utilizes data from the primary scientific literature when available, along with data from clinical trial documents, reputable vaccine tracking websites, and published commercial information.1Â It is the hope that by providing accurate data, recipients can make well-informed decisions regarding vaccine choices.
For additional background and guidance, please see:
* A Visual Aid to Viral Infection and Vaccine Production for a visual primer on the various strategies for viral vaccine production.
* COVID-19 Vaccines & Fetal Cell Lines for an infographic description of how fetal cell lines are sometimes used to produce vaccines.
Flow Chart for Creation and Testing of Vaccines
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Design & Development: conceptualization, preparatory experiments, and specification for how vaccine will be constructed and produced.
Production: process used to manufacture final vaccine to be given to people.
Confirmatory Lab Tests on Product: tests to analyze quality, nucleic acid or protein sequence, protein conformation, antibody reactivity, etc. of final vaccine product.
Vaccination: giving final produced vaccine to people. |
To view PDF chart, see: COVID-19 Vaccine Candidates and Abortion-Derived Cell Lines
- Data accumulated from primary literature as referenced in the Chart; AND âCOVID-19 Treatment and Vaccine Tracker,â Milken Institute, https://covid-19tracker.milkeninstitute.org/ ; AND âDraft landscape of COVID-19 candidate vaccines,â World Health Organization (WHO), https://www.who.int/publications/m/item/draft-landscape-of-covid-19-candidate-vaccines
NOTE that patents are not considered because they are unreliable sources; even the most relevant patents are prospective documents that provide examples of potential use, but do not provide information about actual, current application of an invention or technology. - Prentice, DA and Sander Lee, T. June 15, 2020. A Visual Aid to Viral Infection and Vaccine Production. On Science Series 1. Accessed 19 June 2020 at: https://lozierinstitute.org/a-visual-aid-to-viral-infection-and-vaccine-production/
- Phases of Clinical Trials: Pre-clinical- laboratory and animal studies; Phase I- 10-100 people, study safety and dosage; Phase II- tens to hundreds of people, study efficacy, dosage, side effects; Phase III- hundreds to thousands of people, study efficacy and adverse reactions.
- HHS-BARDA = U.S. Health and Human Services-Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority; CEPI = Coalition of Epidemic Preparedness Innovations; BARDAâs rapidly-expanding COVID-19 medical countermeasure portfolio. Accessed 29 Sept 2020 at https://www.medicalcountermeasures.gov/app/barda/coronavirus/COVID19.aspx; CEPIâs COVID-19 Vaccine Portfolio, Accessed 29 Sept 2020 at https://cepi.net/COVAX/
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