17 episodes

The Vax Files (originally The CoVax Files) is a podcast hosted by investigative healthcare journalist Surani Fernando that dives deeper into the Covid-19 vaccine race with top experts from around the world. Surani has probed this industry for over a decade and this podcast aims to take an unbiased view to explore how the vaccines work, their clinical trials, efficacy and safety results, manufacturing processes, logistics and distribution to the world. Is a vaccine really the magic potion for a better future? Tune in and get the info you need to make your own conclusions.

Note: The first ten episodes of this podcast were published under the original title The CoVax Files, which was changed in October 2021.

The Vax Files Surani Fernando

    • Science
    • 5.0 • 5 Ratings

The Vax Files (originally The CoVax Files) is a podcast hosted by investigative healthcare journalist Surani Fernando that dives deeper into the Covid-19 vaccine race with top experts from around the world. Surani has probed this industry for over a decade and this podcast aims to take an unbiased view to explore how the vaccines work, their clinical trials, efficacy and safety results, manufacturing processes, logistics and distribution to the world. Is a vaccine really the magic potion for a better future? Tune in and get the info you need to make your own conclusions.

Note: The first ten episodes of this podcast were published under the original title The CoVax Files, which was changed in October 2021.

    16. Future Pipeline and Global Outlook

    16. Future Pipeline and Global Outlook

    Nearly two years after Covid-19 was first detected in Wuhan, the world is still very much in a pandemic. The toughest phase may behind us, but we are still faced with the possibility of new variants of concern, waning immunity and vaccine evasion. As first-generation vaccines start to show their weaknesses, next-generation vaccines are becoming more and more important. While hundreds of vaccines are in the pipeline, there are a few frontrunners and other interesting candidates that might be meaningful additions to our Covid vaccine armamentarium. Experts discuss the current status of a number of protein-based vaccines including candidates from Novavax, Vaxine, Clover, GSK/Sanofi and others. DNA vaccines are also still an attraction with the first authorization for Zydus Cadila in India. Other mRNA vaccines might offer meaningful differentiation, while vaccines targeting the S and N protein might also have greater importance when it comes to tackling future variants. While nasal and oral vaccines seem appealing for the prevention of infection and transmission, they also have some inevitable hurdles to overcome and are still a long way off materializing. Experts discuss future manufacturing hurdles that will require greater global collaboration to achieve future vaccine production and distribution goals. Finally, experts discuss the current global status so far and forecasts for exiting the pandemic state and entering a livable endemic. 

    Expert Guests:

    -- Reynald Castaneda is the Clinical Trials Editor of GlobalData Media in London, covering drug development for investors and the pharmaceutical industry.

    -- Dr Maria Elena Bottazzi is the Associate Dean, National School of Tropical Medicine and Professor of Pediatrics (Tropical Medicine) and Molecular Virology and Microbiology at Baylor College of Medicine, Texas, US. She is a leading expert in vaccine development and tropical diseaes.

    -- Dr Deborah Fuller is a Professor of Microbiology at The University of Washington School of Medicine. A veteran vaccinologist and researcher, she has been working on vaccine development for the last 30 years with specific research around DNA and RNA technologies. 

    -- Dr Shabir Madhi is Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences and Professor of Vaccinology at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. He is also the co-founder of the African Leadership Initiative for Vaccinology Expertise (ALIVE).

    -- Dr Nikolai Petrovsky is Professor of Medicine, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia and vice-president and secretary-general of the International Immunomics Society. He is the founder of vaccine biotech, Vaxine, which has a protein based vaccine for Covid-19 in its pipeline.

    -- Dr Monica Gandhi is Professor of Medicine and Associate Division Chief (Clinical Operations/Education) of the Division of HIV, Infectious Diseases, and Global Medicine at University California San Francisco/San Francisco General Hospital.

    -- Dr Prashant Yadav is a Senior Fellow at the Center for Global Development and Affiliate Professor of Technology and Operations Management at INSEAD. Yadav has with governments and global organizations to improve medical product supply chains. Previous roles include Strategy Leader-Supply Chain at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Chair of the Market Dynamics Advisory Group of the Global Fund.

    -- Dr. Nadia Sam-Agudu is Associate Professor of Pediatrics (Immunology/Infectious Diseases) at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and Senior Technical Advisor at the Institute of Human Virology Nigeria. She conducts public health and implementation research in maternal and child health, with a focus on HIV and other major infectious diseases in African countries.

    • 36 min
    15. Virus Evolution and Vaccine Pressure

    15. Virus Evolution and Vaccine Pressure

    As the world tries to take a hold over the delta variant, we're all watching and waiting to see if the virus is going to evolve into something new. There are fears that natural selection could potentially yield a new variant that will completely escape all of our current vaccines. While these scenarios are hypothetical, experts discuss the need to be vigilant and prepared without unnecessary panic. Experts unpack the virus' evolution so far into delta and how that has impacted our goals for herd immunity. They talk about the possibilty for delta to change into a variant more transmissible or virulent, and how potentially leaky vaccines might impact or enhance the virus' evolutionary path. In August, Joe Rogan highlighted a paper on his podcast "The Joe Rogan Experience," which raised public concern that our current vaccines are potentially encouraging new potent variants to emerge. The author of that paper, Professor Andrew Read, comes on to clarify his research in chickens and where certain extrapolations can and can't be made. Meanwhile, experts discuss the possibility of vaccine pressure and the need for new vaccines and which types of vaccine development strategies might better help us get ahead of the virus' curve. 



    Expert Guests:



    -- Dr Shabir Madhi Shabir Madhi is Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences and Professor of Vaccinology at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. He is also the co-founder of the African Leadership Initiative for Vaccinology Expertise (ALIVE).



    -- Dr Jeffrey Morris is Professor of Biostatistics and Director, Biostatistics Division at the University of Pennsylvania, US. His research focuses on developing quantitative methods to extract knowledge from biomedical big data and he set up a blog dedicated to issues concerning the Covid-19 pandemic.



    -- Dr Nikolai Petrovsky is Professor of Medicine, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia and vice-president and secretary-general of the International Immunomics Society. He is the founder of vaccine biotech, Vaxine, which has a protein based vaccine for Covid-19 in its pipeline.



    -- Dr Monica Gandhi is Professor of Medicine and Associate Division Chief (Clinical Operations/Education) of the Division of HIV, Infectious Diseases, and Global Medicine at University California San Francisco/San Francisco General Hospital.

    • 32 min
    14. Vaccine Policies: Boosters and Mandates

    14. Vaccine Policies: Boosters and Mandates

    As governments around the world try to get their countries and economies back on track, they are starting to desperately implement a number of vaccine policies that have sometimes been questioned by society and scientists. In this episode, experts discuss the rationale around boosters, who should get them, when they are the most effective and the problems around offering third doses to individuals when many vulnerable people around the globe are still fighting for their first. Experts also talk about mandates and the debate around forcing the previously infected to be fully immunized when the data suggests otherwise. They also discuss possible mandates for children and schools, vaccine passports to live general life and cross borders as well as different countries discriminating against which vaccines are acceptable for a passport. Finally, experts talk about whether it makes scientific sense to implement such strict mandates at this stage of the pandemic given the shifting understanding around how these vaccines are actually working among communities. With the current problem of global vaccine inequity, experts question whether such mandates implemented by rich countries are ethical and fair.



    Expert guests:



    -- Dr Monica Gandhi is Professor of Medicine and Associate Division Chief (Clinical Operations/Education) of the Division of HIV, Infectious Diseases, and Global Medicine at University California San Francisco/San Francisco General Hospital.

    -- Dr Nikolai Petrovsky is Professor of Medicine, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia and vice-president and secretary-general of the International Immunomics Society. He is the founder of vaccine biotech, Vaxine, which has a protein based vaccine for Covid-19 in its pipeline.

    -- Dr Jeffrey Morris is Professor of Biostatistics and Director, Biostatistics Division at the University of Pennsylvania, US. His research focuses on developing quantitative methods to extract knowledge from biomedical big data and he set up a blog dedicated to issues concerning the Covid-19 pandemic.

    -- Dr. Nadia Sam-Agudu is Associate Professor of Pediatrics (Immunology/Infectious Diseases) at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, and Senior Technical Advisor at the Institute of Human Virology Nigeria. She conducts public health and implementation research in maternal and child health, with a focus on HIV and other major infectious diseases in African countries.

    -- Dr Miguel O'Ryan is Professor of Microbiology and Mycology, Faculty of Medicine at the University of Chile, where is also Director of International Affairs. His research focuses on molecular and clinical aspects of enteric disease, pediatric vaccines and infection of the immunocompromised host.

    -- Dr Andrew Read is Professor of Biology and Entomology at PennState University, US. His research specializes in the ecology and evolutionary genetics of infectious disease, which includes the impact of vaccination on virus evolution.

    • 32 min
    13. Protecting Our Children

    13. Protecting Our Children

    Vaccination in children has fueled a global expert debate specifically around the risk benefit consideration that some may find acceptable and others may find questionable. While children were largely protected from the virus early on in the pandemic, we've come to a point where children are getting sick, some of them severely ill and dying. Experts discuss the changing risks of Covid in kids and how the benefits of vaccination in kids measure up versus potential adverse events. We first look at inactivated vaccines, which are now the most used vaccines in children (as young as 2 years of age) and we take a special deep dive into Chile's rationale for its large scale vaccination drive to get kids back into school. mRNA vaccines are also starting to get rolled out with Pfizer just receiving a US authorization in kids aged 5-11, and experts discuss the risk benefits and greater unknowns of this new technology, particularly around the nuance of dosing, Experts discuss the overall rationale for vaccination when looking at efficacy, safety and potential mechanistic concerns. Vaccinating kids and its overall impact on this pandemic remains debated, although perhaps not in Africa, where children may be the most at need of vaccination to reach global herd immunity, yet stand to be at the end of the queue. Meanwhile, as the issue around pregnancy continues to generate vaccine hesitancy, experts discuss new available data that speaks to the the risk/benefit profile in pregnant women and women wanting to conceive.


    Expert Guests



    -- Dr Miguel O'Ryan is Professor of Microbiology and Mycology, Faculty of Medicine at the University of Chile, where he is also Director of International Affairs. His research focuses on molecular and clinical aspects of enteric disease, pediatric vaccines and infection of the immunocompromised host.



    -- Dr. Nadia Sam-Agudu is Associate Professor of Pediatrics (Immunology/Infectious Diseases) at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, and Senior Technical Advisor at the Institute of Human Virology Nigeria. She conducts public health and implementation research in maternal and child health, with a focus on HIV and other major infectious diseases in African countries.


    -- Dr Nikolai Petrovsky is Professor of Medicine, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia and vice-president and secretary-general of the International Immunomics Society. He is the founder of vaccine biotech, Vaxine, which has a protein based vaccine for Covid-19 in its pipeline.



    -- Dr Maria Elena Bottazzi is the Associate Dean, National School of Tropical Medicine and Professor of Pediatrics (Tropical Medicine) and Molecular Virology and Microbiology at Baylor College of Medicine, Texas, US. She is a leading expert in the field of vaccine development and tropical diseases.



    -- Dr Deborah Fuller is a Professor of Microbiology at The University of Washington School of Medicine. A veteran vaccinologist and researcher, she has been working on vaccine development for the last 30 years with specific research around DNA and RNA technologies.

    • 34 min
    12. Real World Safety

    12. Real World Safety

    With around 7 billion doses administered, the vaccines have largely been proven safe, but there are still major concerns around rare serious side-effects and long term safety unknowns. Experts discuss how safety events have been picked up via public reporting systems -- which have been both a help and a hindrance for the safety discussion -- and how they are being further analyzed. Experts breakdown real world data and the occurrence of rare serious adverse events including VITT (with the adenoviral vector vaccines) and myocarditis (with the mRNA vaccines). While the newer modalities have led to a few surprise fatalities, the inactivated viral vaccines remain clear of fatal serious events and experts discuss what risk ratio is generally acceptable in a deadly pandemic. Experts also discuss extreme safety alarm being perpetuated by social media, particularly the claim that vaccines are killing more people than they are saving. They stress the need for better public communication and education, whilst it is important to vet public sources that may be overdramatizing certain risks by promoting flawed analyses.



    Expert Guests:


    -- Dr Jeffrey Morris is Professor of Biostatistics and Director, Biostatistics Division at the University of Pennsylvania, US. His research focuses on developing quantitative methods to extract knowledge from biomedical big data and he set up a blog dedicated to issues concerning the Covid-19 pandemic.



    -- Dr Nikolai Petrovsky is Professor of Medicine, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia and vice-president and secretary-general of the International Immunomics Society. He is the founder of vaccine biotech, Vaxine, which has a protein based vaccine for Covid-19 in its pipeline.



    -- Dr Maria Elena Bottazzi is the Associate Dean, National School of Tropical Medicine and Professor of Pediatrics (Tropical Medicine) and Molecular Virology and Microbiology at Baylor College of Medicine, Texas, US. She is a leading expert in the field of vaccine development and tropical diseases.



    -- Dr Miguel O'Ryan is Professor of Microbiology and Mycology, Faculty of Medicine at the University of Chile, where is also Director of International Affairs. His research focuses on molecular and clinical aspects of enteric disease, pediatric vaccines and infection of the immunocompromised host.

    • 32 min
    11. Real World Effectiveness

    11. Real World Effectiveness

    Since the last episode in February, a lot has happened with the vaccination rollout -- so we're back for a few more episodes. But we've changed our name from The CoVax Files to The Vax Files, which was was done mainly to avoid any confusion with GAVI/WHO's COVAX facility and also to maintain our independence from any official organization.

    As we approach the end of 2021 and almost 7 billion administered vaccine doses, we now have a good chunk of real world effectiveness data available. During this episode, experts walk us through some important datasets that can speak to how the vaccines have been working, with particular nuances around the emergence of the highly transmissible Delta variant. Experts take a deep dive into real world evidence data in different countries to elucidate overall protection, antibody waning, protection against severe disease and death as well as the likelihood of transmission when vaccinated. Finally, experts discuss the dangers of misinterpreting headline or summary data, which has been a regular occurrence in the media and social media during this pandemic.

    Expert Guests:



    -- Dr Jeffrey Morris is Professor of Biostatistics and Director, Biostatistics Division at the University of Pennsylvania, US. His research focuses on developing quantitative methods to extract knowledge from biomedical big data and he set up a blog dedicated to issues concerning the Covid-19 pandemic.


    -- Dr Nikolai Petrovsky is Professor of Medicine, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia and vice-president and secretary-general of the International Immunomics Society. He is the founder of vaccine biotech, Vaxine, which has a protein based vaccine for Covid-19 in its pipeline.


    -- Dr Maria Elena Bottazzi is the Associate Dean, National School of Tropical Medicine and Professor of Pediatrics (Tropical Medicine) and Molecular Virology and Microbiology at Baylor College of Medicine, Texas, US. She is a leading expert in the field of vaccine development and tropical diseases.


    -- Dr Andrew Read is Professor of Biology and Entomology at PennState University, US. His research specializes in the ecology and evolutionary genetics of infectious disease, which includes the impact of vaccination on virus evolution.

    • 32 min

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The antidote to vaccine half-truths

This is essential listening for anyone looking to be well informed about the true story of Covid-19 vaccine development. Balanced, well researched and produced by a team with the technical chops and experience to dig behind the headlines.

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