A new COVID-19 vaccine developed with help from Texas researchers could soon bring relief to parts of the world in desperate need of help. Candace Sweat spoke with Dr. Peter Hotez about why this new vaccine is so important around the world and in the United States.
Texas-based researcher Dr. Peter Hotez says what has emerged out of Houston is a major step in the medical world, especially as it relates to battling COVID-19.
He said it’s not often that people recognize Texas as a state of great innovation and science.
A vaccine technology developed at Texas Children’s Hospital and Baylor College of Medicine called Corbevax crossed a significant threshold. Regulators in India have given the green light for emergency use authorization.
Hotez, as part of the team that developed the vaccine, said this should be of great interest to public health entities worldwide.
Get DFW local news, weather forecasts and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NBC DFW newsletters.
“It checks the boxed for global health vaccine,” he said. “Inexpensive, easy to scale up locally, safety, cost, the fact that it’s simple refrigeration.”
As for why this should matter to the United States – especially with the availability of vaccines already FDA approved – Dr. Hotez reminds us the spread of the delta and omicron variants began in countries with large unvaccinated populations. He said global vaccination efforts are critical.
“We know what’s in store for us. As long as we leave the southern hemisphere unvaccinated, new variants of concern will emerge,” Hotez said.
Local
The latest news from around North Texas.
Already, 150 million doses have been produced, with a commitment to an additional 100 million per month.
“If you’re talking about a serious effort to vaccinate the world and prevent variants from emerging, we think we’re now going to make a very important contribution to this,” said Hotez.
