On RaDVaC
(Rapid Deployment Vaccine Collaborative)
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Nothing in what follows shall be construed as advice of any kind, medical or otherwise.
Note, further, that the team at RaDVaC has neither reviewed nor endorsed anything contained on this website.
Introduction
RaDVaC is a brilliant initiative that seeks to save lives with a vaccine against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. The RaDVaC vaccine is created and deployed in such a way that protection in the population against COVID-19 can be increased far more rapidly than by the vaccines produced with conventional development and deployment strategies now being pursued elsewhere. It has the potential to save thousands if not many tens of thousands of lives, and to prevent the damage seen in significant proportions of survivors.
I was so excited about this project when I first heard about it that I wanted to move to Boston and join the effort fulltime. The open-source strategy and architecture of the larger vision makes this entirely unnecessary, however: I, you – anyone – can contribute independently.
The decision to take the vaccine
In describing my excitement about RaDVaC to friends and colleagues, I’ve been surprised by what can only be described as exceedingly myopic reactions. First, and most generally, I was surprised by the blindness of the trust people have in the process by which the products of conventional pharmaceutical companies come into being and gain regulatory approval. Some trust in this process is certainly warranted: the process generally works adequately. But the blindness of the trust so many of us have lived with for so long means that we haven’t developed the ability, or the courage, to assess alternative paths to the production of safe and effective vaccines, or medical treatments more generally. The blind trust in the conventional path to medical product availability goes hand in hand with a blind distrust of anything unconventional: we can assess neither the risk of conventional approaches to medical problems, nor the risk of unconventional approaches. We meekly accept the conventional vaccine, and timidly reject the unconventional one. All the while, our ability to make our own assessments continues to atrophy.
There are many dozens of dedicated researchers working to develop an effective, safe vaccine within the traditional regulatory framework. Many of them will succeed, but it will take many more months. Meanwhile, RaDVaC is creating an iteratively improved, evidence-based vaccine that is available now. Since it is being created outside the normal framework of clinical trials and review board oversight, any individual considering taking the vaccine needs to spend some time understanding RaDVaC’s strategy.
But it would behoove us to learn to assess vaccines developed within the conventional path to regulatory approval as well. That way, whatever decision we make about taking a vaccine, it will be an informed one.
The decision to make the vaccine
Second, I was surprised that so many people were missing the forest for the trees with RaDVaC. RaDVaC is ultimately about empowerment. While the critical, immediate goal of RaDVaC is to save people during the current pandemic, the more broadly revolutionary aspect of the initiative is that it is highly generalizable. Working through how best to nimbly develop and deploy increasingly improved versions of a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine creates the possibility of responding even more quickly to the next pandemic. Moreover, disease from other, non-pandemic pathogens can be mitigated using this same strategy. Imagine that a RaDVaC-inspired group created an effective vaccine against herpes simplex I or II. This would not only reduce the misery directly caused by herpes flare-ups, but could even significantly reduce the incidence of Alzheimer’s (though this is still somewhat controversial). That’s just one of hundreds of possible non-pandemic applications. More broadly still, large numbers of citizen scientists with some basic knowledge and lab equipment will be able to turn to things beyond vaccines, such as treatments for disease and aging.
The do-it-yourself (DIY) movement has yet to take off and live up to its enormous potential. The global focus on COVID-19, and RaDVaC’s bold, creative response to this pandemic, could prove to be the spur needed to empower the DIY movement to grow and make headway in curing disease of all kinds.
Summa summarum
The potential of RaDVaC is vast. But before taking advantage of the full, broader potential of the project, let’s put the COVID-19 pandemic behind us. RaDVaC can contribute immensely to the achievement of that goal – right now. The decision is yours. My own decision: take the vaccine, make the vaccine!
Links
https://radvac.org/. Background and much more information.
RaDVaC, letter to loved ones.pdf
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Last update (possibly minor): 2020-10-04.
Last substantive update: 2020-09-07.