Modified Inactivated Vaccine May Produce Immune Response as Effective as Live Vaccine

Vaccines containing inactivated versions of disease-causing germs are traditionally not as effective as live vaccines made with weakened pathogens. But new research from Weill Cornell Medicine scientists reveals how a molecule found in live vaccines produces a robust immune response, and adding it to an inactivated vaccine can create the same strong results.

These insights may provide a blueprint for engineering more potent inactivated or “dead” vaccines that can deliver strong immunity while overcoming concerns about the health risks of live vaccines.

“There has been a reluctance in the general population to get vaccinated, but vaccines are the single most effective medical intervention proven to prevent disease,” said senior author Dr. Julie Magarian Blander, a senior faculty member in the Jill Roberts Institute for Research in Inflammatory Bowel Disease at Weill Cornell Medicine, who was recruited as a professor of immunology in medicine. “We have known that live vaccines provide better protection, often for life, in one dose, compared to dead vaccines that frequently require multiple doses or boosters over time.” To continue reading...

Weill Cornell Medicine The Jill Roberts Institute for Research in Inflammatory Bowel Disease 413 E 69th Street, 7th Floor New York, NY 10021 Phone: (644) 962-4000