TY - JOUR T1 - Safe, inexpensive vaccines may play role in protecting world from COVID-19 — Q&A with Peter Hotez: ‘We are trying to be the fire department here, because the world is on fire’ JF - The Nation's Health JO - Nations Health SP - 13 LP - 13 VL - 52 IS - 2 AU - Mark Barna Y1 - 2022/04/01 UR - http://www.thenationshealth.org/content/52/2/13.abstract N2 - Over half of the world’s population has been fully vaccinated against COVID-19. But most people who are vaccinated reside in regions and nations with high wealth, such as China, Japan, the United Kingdom, the U.S. and the European Union.Populations in some middle- and low-income countries have low vaccination rates, according to Oxford University. Variants such as delta and omicron have emerged from underserved regions to spread globally.Vaccinating the world has become an enormous challenge. Most of the COVID-19 vaccination platforms, including mRNA and adenovirus technologies, are too expensive and hard to scale for global use, said Peter Hotez, MD, PhD, co-director of Texas Children’s Hospital’s Center for Vaccine Development. The center has developed a COVID-19 vaccine based on a proven recombinant protein-based technology used for tetanus and other common vaccinations.The low-cost vaccine has been provided patent-free to manufacturers in four underserved countries. In India, Biological E, which calls the vaccine Corbevax, has manufactured 250 million doses as of January and plans to make 140 million doses a month. Clinical trials have shown Corbevax to be safe and effective.Hotez spoke to The Nation’s Health about global vaccination and why the technology he and his team developed is being given away free. ER -