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Safety and security concerns regarding transmissible vaccines

Nature Ecology & Evolution volume 5, pages 405–406 (2021)Cite this article

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To the Editor — Nuismer and Bull1 argue for the development of self-disseminating vaccines for cost-effective immunization of animal reservoirs to prevent zoonotic spillovers. The authors suggest two approaches: ‘transferable’ vaccines, non-contagious vaccines applied to animals and spread through behaviour such as grooming, and ‘transmissible’ vaccines, replication-competent virally vectored vaccines with potential for indefinite transmission across populations.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Medical Sciences Division, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

    Jonas B. Sandbrink

  2. Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Matthew C. Watson

  3. Nuclear Threat Initiative, Washington, DC, USA

    Andrew M. Hebbeler

  4. Media Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Kevin M. Esvelt

Authors
  1. Jonas B. Sandbrink
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  2. Matthew C. Watson
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  3. Andrew M. Hebbeler
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  4. Kevin M. Esvelt
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jonas B. Sandbrink.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Peer review information Nature Ecology & Evolution thanks the anonymous reviewers for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Sandbrink, J.B., Watson, M.C., Hebbeler, A.M. et al. Safety and security concerns regarding transmissible vaccines. Nat Ecol Evol 5, 405–406 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-021-01394-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-021-01394-3

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