A successful COVID-19 vaccine will need to protect those who are 65 or older, one of our most vulnerable populations.
As we age, our immune systems get weaker. This is why we see more cancers, more autoimmune and chronic diseases, and a poorer response to vaccination in older adults. It’s also the reason we become more susceptible to the seasonal flu or to COVID-19.
Vaccines are designed to protect us, but one of today’s greatest challenges is that many vaccines have a hard time stimulating the immune system in older populations to fight off a disease.
We call the ability of a vaccine to stimulate your immune system and create antibodies its “immunogenicity,” and for a COVID-19 vaccine to succeed, it needs to demonstrate high immunogenicity, especially in those over 65.
In this blog, I’ll briefly discuss the track record of vaccines working in older adults, and jump into why I’m so excited about the power of COVAXX’s vaccine. COVAXX has built an extraordinary Science Advisory Board of three world-class scientists, who together have designed, tested, and approved a dozen major vaccines.
I’ll introduce our Science Advisors below and invite you to join a webinar with them to learn more and get your questions answered.
Let’s dive in.
Want to learn more? Join me and Tony Robbins THIS FRIDAY, August 14th at 1pm PT as we interview our three COVAXX Science Advisors. Together, these incredible scientists have developed and received approval for ten major vaccines.
Challenges of immunogenicity in older adults & COVAXX’s approach
Unfortunately, vaccines aren’t one-size-fits-all. A vaccine that is effective in young, healthy adults may not work as well as we grow older.
Two main reasons account for this: immunosenescence and inflammation.
Immunosenescence is the slow deterioration of our immune system and a normal part of aging. In tandem, many older adults also suffer from inflammation, which affects our body’s ability to release certain proteins that help modulate our immune system’s response to disease. And any COVID-19 vaccine that’s going to be effective for the most vulnerable members of society will need to account for these factors.
I’m very pleased that the COVAXX vaccine, based on United Biomedical Inc’s “synthetic peptide vaccine platform,” has a strong chance of conferring protection in older populations. The evidence comes from recent trials of UBI’s Alzheimer’s vaccine, which uses the same synthetic peptide vaccine platform. In these trials, the platform stimulated high immunogenicity in 98% of elderly patients.
Learn more about COVAXX and the vaccine in this interview with the Co-CEO's (Mei Mei Hu and Lou Reese).
Meet our Science Advisors -- Webinar with Peter & Tony Robbins
This Friday, August 14th at 1pm PT / 4pm ET, Tony and I are going to interview our three COVAXX Science Advisors. Together, these incredible scientists have developed and received approval for ten major vaccines.
Let’s meet the advisors:
Dr. George Siber is an internationally renowned vaccine expert with over 4 decades of experience in developing innovative vaccines, including Prevnar 7, Rotashield, Meningitec, and FluMist. Dr. Siber has served on numerous prestigious advisory committees, including the World Health Organization (WHO), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Dr. Thomas Monath is a retired US Army Colonel with 30 years of experience in the biotechnology industry. He was formerly Chief Scientific Officer at Acambis and has directed development of multiple vaccines against Dengue, Japanese Encephalitis, West Nile, Yellow Fever, and Smallpox. He was an advisor to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and led the Biodefense and Pandemic fund at Kleiner Perkins.
Dr. Wayne Koff is one of the world's experts on vaccine development and is the founding president and CEO of the Human Vaccines Project. Prior to joining the Human Vaccines Project, he served as Chief Scientific Officer at the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) and has been following COVAXX’s vaccine technology platform for many years.
If you’d like to learn more about our COVAXX vaccine, and pick the brains of three extraordinary scientists, please JOIN TONY ROBBINS & ME for an engaging LIVE Q&A.
Webinar Date: Friday, August 14th at 1pm PT.
Warmest wishes,
Peter
