More from my uncle..

On adenovirus vector vaccines:
A while back I posted a brief summary of vaccine types and how they differ. I left out a sub-category that appears to be more important than I expected. That category is the adenovirus vector vaccine. It is a subcategory of live virus vaccines, but it has not been widely used in humans until now. Several of the vaccine candidates that are now in the developmental pipeline are of the adenovirus vector type. One (the Johnson and Johnson candidate) may be up for emergency use authorization within a few weeks.
The theory behind the adenovirus vector vaccines is one of those goofy ideas that get kicked around in brainstorming sessions and are never heard of again. But somebody was crazy enough to try one – and competent enough to pull it off! It is a live virus vaccine (like the Sabine polio vaccine or the smallpox inoculation) but it uses an artificial version of a harmless virus that has been ‘disguised’ as the Covid-19 virus. It’s kind of a microbiological ‘false-flag’ operation. (Bear with me.)
Adenoviruses are a class of viruses that were discovered in the ‘50s and were thought to be pretty unimportant at the time. There are several dozen species of this class that infect primates and most of them do not result in any symptoms in people. The body does, however, mount a strong defense after being infected by an adenovirus.
In recent years, some adenovirus types have gotten a lot of attention as vehicles for inserting modified genes into human hosts. This line of gene therapy research has been rich in promise and poor in delivery for some time and it remains controversial for a number of reasons. Along the way, however, the experience gained in jiggering the genetic code of adenoviruses has led to some interesting vaccine strategies. It has led to a few vaccines for certain exotic diseases (dengue and ebola, for example) but it has never been widely used in humans.
So, how does one go about recruiting an unsuspecting virus into carrying out a suicidal ‘false flag' operation?’ (First, let me assure you that if I were making this up I would surely try to tell you something more believable.) The unlikely process goes something like this:
1. Identify the DNA that codes for some feature of the disease-causing virus that is vital to its survival in the human host. Most experts believe that the soft underbelly of Covid-19 is the spike protein structure. It is vital to the way in which the virus invades a human cell.
2. Choose a type of virus that the human subject is unlikely to have been exposed to in the environment but is unlikely to cause a serious disorder in humans. Most researchers have settled on an adenovirus that is found chimpanzees and is rare in humans.
3. Alter the DNA of the adenovirus to cause it to develop a Covid-like spike on its outer shell and to render it incapable of reproducing.
4. Breed industrial quantities of these ‘castrated’ viruses…. Wait a minute…. Didn’t we just render this step impossible?!!! Not entirely. You can knock out a gene that codes for some essential protein in the virus and then develop a human cell culture line that has been genetically altered to supply that protein for the virus that infects it. (Nature does not require facts to be believable.) Now you have a human cell line that is the only environment where the lab-generated virus can reproduce. (I wonder if that’s how they grow seeds for seedless watermelons… I’ll google that later.)
5. Filter the human cells out of the culture dish and you now have a few drops vaccine made of harmless virus particles disguised as Covid-19 virus and incapable of reproducing in the environment. When injected into a human subject, the immune system recognizes a new virus with spike on its jacket and goes to work building antibodies.
By all accounts, the Johnson and Johnson adenovirus vector-based vaccine has shown satisfactory results in clinical trials. If these results hold up to the review process, we may see an EUA application sometime in January. Astra Zeneca / Oxford, Russia’s Sputnik V, and several other adeno vaccines are being tested around the world. Some of them are likely to show up at your local drug store soon.
These developments are probably good news. While we have two seemingly attractive mRNA-based vaccines being rolled out, we are still early in the game. We don’t know what adverse events might show up as the roll out proceeds. Also, producing these vaccines requires bulk supplies of reagents that are normally ordered by the eye dropper full. Shortages have been rumored but not proven. It would be good to have a competing alternative that uses a different process. Also, there are always a few people who can’t or won’t take one treatment or another. We may be glad to have options.