"Whole bacterial" Pneumonia Vaccine Approaches Human Trials

Keep 'em scared!

One could post everyday about news articles relating to the vaccine madness that has overtaken the planet. This recent article that appeared in NEW ATLAS is a case in point. The article quotes a Professor Paton as saying:

The pneumococcus is the biggest bacterial killer on the planet. It's the most common cause of pneumonia, which is responsible for about 20 per cent of deaths from all causes in children under five years in developing countries. Globally, the pneumococcus accounts for about two million deaths a year. 

In developed countries, the death rate from pneumonia for children under five years in much lower. For example, in New South Wales:

There were 1,010 deaths from influenza and pneumonia in 2016 (9.2 deaths per 100,000 population) and just under 92% of these were in persons aged 65 years and over (65.3 deaths per 100,000 population in that age group). Death rates from influenza or pneumonia are very low in all other age groups. Source

One could argue that the lower death is due to widespread vaccinations but the article points out that the current vaccines are not all that effective. To quote the Professor again:

Professor James Paton, a director at GPN Vaccines and Director of the University of Adelaide's Research Centre for Infectious Diseases, says that the current pneumococcal vaccine works by targeting the complex carbohydrates that coat the outside of the Streptococcus pneumoniae bacterium, which is the main cause of pneumonia. He points out that this vaccine, which costs more than US$100 a shot, only covers 13 types of these complex carbohydrates, when there are 98 structurally distinct types.

A new pneumonia vaccine that is claimed to be effective against all strains of
Streptococcus pneumoniae is a step closer to human clinical trials
(Credit: lightsource/Depositphotos)

The reasons for the high death rate from pneumonia in developing countries are the same ones that made measles such a deadly killer in the middle of the 19th century in Britain and other countries. It is crowded living conditions, poor hygiene and sanitation, and nutritional deficiencies that undermine the health of babies and infants in these countries, making them susceptible to infection. Address these issues and the death rates plummet. But where's the money in that?

Professor Paton is working on a new vaccine:

The new vaccine developed by GPN Vaccines in partnership with The University of Adelaide works by removing the complex carbohydrates that form an outer coating of the Streptococcus pneumoniae bacterium, exposing the surface proteins that are common to all serotypes of the bacteria. The immune system of individuals that have previously been exposed to those surface proteins or vaccinated can mount a defense against the infection. 

The vaccine is a proprietary engineered strain of Streptococcus pneumoniae that has been cultured and inactivated by being exposed to gamma rays – hence its name, Gamma-PN. The company has previously conducted pre-clinical studies where intranasal vaccination with Gamma-PN protected animals against lethal pneumococcal sepsis caused by a number of different Streptococcus pneumoniae strains.

If it's effective, it's going to be expensive and it's not going to be given out free to developing countries. These countries will need to purchase it out of their health care budgets, leaving that much less money to spend on infrastructure projects to improve sanitation and crowded living conditions. The politicians in these countries are easily persuaded by the pharmaceutical industry to make such purchases. Both parties profit but the living conditions of the poor remain unchanged and this is the real cause of the mortality. If the children of the poor do receive a jab of this new vaccine, their already weakened immune systems will cause them to fall prey to some other pathogen.