In episode 8 of our COVID19 Road to a vaccine series, our host, Associate Professor Nigel Crawford, speaks with Professor Katie Flanagan. Katie is Head of Infectious Diseases at Launceston General Hospital and is affiliated with the University of Tasmania, Monash University and RMIT where she is involved in a broad range of research projects, with her main interests being in vaccinology and infectious diseases immunology. She has led a number of vaccine immunology trials. In this episode they discuss:

•Immunological aspects of SARS-CoV-2
•Vaccine responses in adults versus children and the difference in adult immune systems
•Vaccinology strategies being used in the development of a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine
•Antibody response variation by age
•Viral vector vaccines and how they work
•Novel vaccine approaches and the implications of these on vaccine safety including: mRNA and DNA SARS-CoV-2 vaccines

Links:

VACSIG: Vaccination Special Interest Group
https://www.asid.net.au/groups/vacsig

The Lancet: Immunogenicity and safety of recombinant adenovirus type-5-vectored COVID-19 vaccine in healthy adults ages 18 years or older: a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase 2 trial
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)31605-6/fulltext

The Lancet: Safety and immunogenicity of the ChAdOx1 nCOV-19 vaccine against SARS-CoV-2: a preliminary report of a phase ½, single-blind, randomised controlled trial
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)31604-4/fulltext

WHO draft landscape of COVID-19 candidate vaccines:
https://www.who.int/publications/m/item/draft-landscape-of-covid-19-candidate-vaccines

COVID-19 Vaccine tracker
https://www.covid-19vaccinetracker.org/