The Cutter incident: A cautionary tale for Operation Warp Speed

The lesson here for Operation Warp Speed is that a rush to get a vaccine out the door can have fatal consequences. And in the case of the coronavirus vaccines under development, the risks are inherently larger than with Cutter’s Salk vaccine. That’s because the coronavirus vaccines are going to be shipped without a couple of years worth of human testing. A protracted testing period doesn’t just provide information about the safety and effectiveness of a vaccine. It also provides the vaccine producers and government regulators with time to develop robust product safety procedures. Can that be done at warp speed? Maybe, but warp speed seems to be an open invitation to a new Cutter Labs incident.

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I disagree with his suggestion at the end, however :

“We propose OPV (Oral Polio Vaccine) because of its availability, simplicity (a tablet), very low cost and decades long safety record… Billions of people have received OPV, including nearly everyone in the U.S. between 1962 and 2000,” he wrote.

“Stimulating the innate immune system with OPV looks like a free and safe option for saving lives while we wait for an effective COVID-19 vaccine,” he concluded.

If the feds want to chase a vaccine option at warp speeds, this is the one they should be pursuing.

We don't need a vaccine!