5 vaccines that were canceled without your knowledge

Lately there has been a lot of talk about withdrawal approvals for AstraZeneca to administer the COVID-19 vaccine. Something that many media outlets and especially the population do not usually talk about. anti-vaxxersIt was the pharmaceutical company itself one that demanded a withdrawal but did not do so due to the thrombosis cases that caused so much talk. The possibility of this side effect has been included in the technical characteristics of the vaccine for many years, and the risks are no higher than those of many drugs, from which, of course, the benefits are much higher. Therefore, the reason for this departure is nothing more than lack of demand consumers.

The vaccine market works just like any other: supply is subject to demand. In fact, in this particular case, this is an issue that needs to be especially taken into account, since vaccines are very expensive to develop. There is no point in continuing to produce and support a variant for which there is no longer sufficient demand. For this reason, AstraZeneca has decided ask the European Union recalling its Covid-19 vaccine.

This seems very strange to us, because this is the first time we are taking a close look at the steps of a pharmaceutical company. However, vaccine recalls due to lack of demand this is not new. This has happened to many other people in recent years and will continue to happen in the future. Here are some examples.

Great success of the smallpox vaccine

Without a doubt, the best example of vaccine refusal due to lack of demand is the smallpox vaccine. It was stopped being administered around the world several decades ago because it is the reason the virus is no longer detected in people. It is the only one that infects us that has been completely eradicated.

For this reason, vaccination was gradually abandoned throughout the world. In Spain, for example, It was discontinued in 1979.

Polio eradication close

Most bets indicate that the next virus to be eradicated by vaccines will be polio. In fact, the disease has already disappeared from many parts of the world. For this reason, and because a better option exists, commercialization of the traditional oral vaccine was phased out in 2016.

This was based on live attenuated virusesand the one that replaced him at that time is inactivated vaccine, which reduces side effects. Does this mean the oral vaccine was canceled because it was bad? Not really. Something similar is happening with AstraZeneca. The new inactivated vaccine was better, so demand for the oral vaccine decreased to the point of failure. However, thanks to this first oral vaccine, polio disappeared from large parts of the planet.

Changes for the better at HIB

The bacterium is known as HIB. Haemophilus influenzae infection type B. It causes a wide range of infections, from meningitis to pneumonia, including other milder illnesses.

For many years, a vaccine based on one of the bacterial cell wall polysaccharides has been used. This mechanism is less well known than that of viral proteins, but it is still used. However, these types of vaccines have a problem: their immunity is less durable because they do not activate T cells, which contribute to the development of the disease. immune memory. For this reason, so-called conjugate vaccines were developed many years ago. In them, polysaccharides bind to transport proteins that are sent to T lymphocytes and activate them, increasing long-term immunity.

The first disease against which these vaccines were developed was HIB, so the first option was withdrawn from the market to make way for the second.

The rabies vaccine is also not the same.

For many years, the rabies vaccine was developed from weakened viruses isolated from mouse neuronal tissue. However, over time, a way appeared to cultivate them, the so-called Vero cells. These are cells grown in the laboratory and can reproduce over many cycles without aging. Therefore, viruses grown in these cells are easier to obtain than directly in the brains of mice.

In addition, the immunogenicity and safety of the resulting vaccine are improved. Therefore, although nerve cell-based vaccines are still used in some countries, Vero cell-based vaccines are much more common today. As demand has changed, these countries have decided to phase out the former, as AstraZeneca did.

COVID vaccines other than AstraZeneca

The AstraZeneca vaccine is not the only COVID-19 vaccine withdrawn from circulation in Europe. As explained from Damnin December 2023 Valneva and in January 2024 Sanofi Pasteur.

In short, the AstraZeneca case is no exception. Revocation of marketing authorization may be due to health, economic or bureaucratic reasons. It is unfair to dwell only on the fact that he retired. It’s okay to know the reasons. And these are not exclusive reasons. This has happened many times under our noses without us even realizing it. Why are we so stubborn about these vaccines?