The Valneva vaccine, is as I understand it, of the traditional type, and NOT an mRNA vaccine.
Does anyone have a clue as to the real reason why the government has cancelled the Valneva contract for 100 million doses as reasons given by the government do not appear credible.
VLA2001 is a traditional attenuated virus vaccine. Just like the flu shot. It has been going through efficacy comparison trials for the last year.
https://www.precisionvaccinations.com/vaccines/vla2001-covid-19-vaccine
Unlike the panic vaccines used so far in Western countries (mRNA and adenovirus) attenuated virus vaccines have a very long history of safe use and low adverse reaction rates. Like the annual flu shot.
So I always assumed VLA2001 was going to be a key part of any annual COVID vaccine shot if the government were going to go that particular route. As there was never the slightest doubt that any human corona virus vaccine was going to be any different from influenza vaccines. A non sterilizing immunity vaccine with short term efficacy. Little protection after a year or two and with low general population efficacy rates.
So my guess is the cancelling of the UK contract has more to do with the government abandoning a long term annual vaccination policy. Because the only vaccines that would be safe enough to use annually are ones like VLA2001. Unless they got a really great deal on a vaccine like Covaxin
There again if the decision was actually based on science maybe someone in the public health bureaucracy has realize that mass vaccination using untested vaccines for a low risk disease with placebo levels of public health benefit is maybe not such a good idea. But based on the evidence of the last 18 months, highly unlikely.
It could be anything; it might even be low efficacy, the Sinopharm vaccine is also an inactivated vaccine and it doesn't have a great reputation for efficacy. The interesting ones are the attenuated vaccines delivered as nasal sprays, which ought to be very safe, broad-spectrum and very effective including against transmission; there are quite a few of them in the pipeline.
Valneva was the only vaccine I would be willing to take (well, willing isn't really the right word here considering all that is going on here in France, people are now losing their jobs over this) but as it was a traditional vaccine I would have gone ahead and signed on the dotted line. So I was really disappointed to read this. I know it hadn't been taken up yet here in France but I was ever the optimist that at some point I'd be able to take a classic vaccine, not because I'm worried about covid (I'm not) but because they are deliberately making it very difficult here for the non-vaccinated.
Valneva did really badly on the Cov-Boost trails.
Given essentially everyone in the UK getting vaccination from now on has already had something else, every dose is going to be a boost.
So makes no sense to use something that performed by far the worst in trials for that purpose.
Against Delta, its efficacy in the first place is pretty bad.
It'll be another "poor countries" vaccine like AZ.
