Graziella Almendral presents in “Vacunas” (Ed. Urano) a complete perspective on present, past and future pandemics and everything that surrounds the world of vaccines.
Since the outbreak of covid, almost two years ago, science parked other work to investigate a vaccine against the new virus.
In December 2020, the first vaccine, from Pfizer-BionTech, was approved in record time. However, the race to find a suitable immunization method has not stopped.
EFEsalud speaks with the journalist to get a little closer to the scientists or “warriors”, as she calls herself, who lead the investigation against the coronavirus and the discoveries that have led us to current immunization methods.
What does your book contribute to the debate on vaccines and immunity against covid?
I think the book Vaccines offers scientific information told in a very informative way, about everything behind the appearance of a vaccine from the original idea in the mind of the person who created it.
For this reason, I wanted to put the vaccines with their protagonists, the men and women scientists, who have created them. And also see what has motivated them to generate a vaccine, what they have faced and the scientific knowledge behind it.
Many times they have had to face their own environment and the ignorance that existed at that time. Approaching that knowledge and those protagonists, I believe that many people are going to discover everything that is behind the appearance of a vaccine.
Many times it is thought that everything is the business of some companies, that I am not saying that they do not do business, but what is behind it is pure science, knowledge and commitment.
I do not think that a person who is against the vaccine will read it, but a person who is curious to clarify concepts will find clarity, knowledge, outreach and also adventure in this book.
Do you think the scientific community will be taken more seriously after the pandemic?
I am critical of this because I believe that the vast majority of society had prior recognition of the scientific community.
This was pending on the part of the governments and the political class, very far from science because they have not promoted it for decades, especially in a country like Spain.
And I hope that the visibility that is being given now is the push they needed to put the scientific community where it deserves to be. We owe everything to them and to the health workers and that is what I think the pandemic is going to do.
What has been the role of politicians during these two years of pandemic?
They have understood what the role of science was and they have understood that without it we would not have vaccines for the time being. I don’t know if out of personal belief, but certainly out of commitment and visibility they are going to start betting much more on science.
I hope so, but I am not yet convinced because we have a huge lack of commitment to science in Spain because it is not given the means it needs. A lot of infrastructure is needed and above all, a fixed, continuous and thought-out commitment in the short, medium and long term.
Only with short-term measures to win elections we are not going to solve the problem of science because we have to recover the great scientists who left and who cannot return. So I hope the pandemic is the beginning of historic debt relief.
How can you combat anti-vaccines from journalism and win the pulse of fake news?
The most important thing is transparency and the way the information is reported by the media, but especially by the health authorities.
We need to see the face and resume of all the people who are making the decisions. We need to understand that decisions must be based on scientific evidence.
You have to fight fake news with good information.
In Spain we do not have a strong anti-vaccine problem. We have another problem that is people who do not get vaccinated, not so much because of anti-vaccines, but because of complacency with this pandemic or because they have doubts.
In that sense, I hope that the book helps to understand that vaccines have been with us for many years and understand the procedure of how a vaccine is approved and that behind each of the vaccines that we are seeing now there are many years of research and there is no nothing improvised.
Are we going to have to get vaccinated every year?
Scientists don’t know. We must also understand that science has its times and that it has given us an impressive thing, which is to obtain many vaccines in less than a year. And we also already have new antiviral treatments that have been researched for decades and are now getting approved.
Knowing how the immune system will respond to new vaccines and what the duration of immunity is, we do not yet know.
We do know that each new variant that has appeared, especially omicron, has lowered the antibody response and that has indeed been important because it has caused us the reinfections that we are seeing now, but clearly we are already going to booster doses .
Ómicron has changed the landscape. In some cases in a very positive way and in others it has reminded us that we need to update vaccines. They are going to fight for a much more global vaccine that is not as specific as the one we have now, but against all the variants of coronavirus.
What do you think about the vaccines that are being developed in Spain?
My big bet is the vaccine led by Luis Enjuanes. I think it will be the great vaccine. Enjuanes is one of the best coronavirus experts in the world. He has been studying viruses for 30 or 40 years together with the rest of his team.
It is a vaccine that has the vision of giving much more global immunity against the virus. With small doses it will have a wide spectrum and it is a vaccine that, if achieved, will be administered intranasally. Therefore, it will immunize the mucous membranes, the gateway of the virus to the body.
This will allow us to avoid infection and transmit the virus. I hope it is the great vaccine. If we are able to support them because we are late. We need to support them as a country.
Do you think we are prepared to face future pandemics?
Not quite yet. In Spain we have faced a lack of coordination between the autonomous communities when establishing measures that have greatly confused the population.
One of the most important elements is international coordination, such as the European Union has done, leading the purchase of vaccines and I wish that this had been done worldwide so that everyone had access to vaccines. If we had done it globally, the pandemic would be something else right now.
Although we are missing something essential, strengthening the health system because we are seeing how it is collapsing and we are not strengthening it.
The World Health Organization has established five priorities to defend ourselves against future pandemics, including strengthening primary care, and we are doing just the opposite.
What do you think about patents?
I would like that there is no need to release a patent, but that whoever manufactures the vaccines understands that in a pandemic and profit is behind it. The priority is to have vaccines for everyone.
In addition, it is not only producing vaccines, but allowing someone else to produce it and to do that you have to transfer the knowledge.
Once we end the pandemic, this accessibility can be closed, but in a pandemic the priority is to end it by vaccinating the entire population.
In some countries, 10% of the population has been vaccinated, while in others it has reached 80 or 90%. That inequality is causing two pandemics right now.
in your book Vaccines you talk about a single health, what does it consist of?
I always have my head set on the rest of the countries, what we can call “global health”. Attending to all conditions is a challenge to achieve. I put the focus on vaccines and understand that health is a single health.
Human health cannot be separated from animal health or the environment. If we believe that human health is going another way, we will never end infectious diseases.
Every time the Earth warms one tenth affects human and animal health. This is for me the great learning of the pandemic. We are entering the age of pandemics and one after another is going to come to us. The priority must be to take care of the Earth, the animals and ourselves.
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