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| On 25th July, Cheonji Ilbo (Cheonji Daily) published an article in Korean entitled, “The development of a coronavirus vaccine in 2.5 years is a miracle...We are grateful for public-private cooperation and your blood plasma donation”. This is a translation of that report. (Above) COVID-19 preventive vaccine in Korea |
✦ At the crossroads of change, the first domestically produced vaccine has been birthed
✦ Difficult to develop, but highly secure
✦ 'Positive impact on variants, such as Omicron'
✦ 'Blood donor plasma' written in the development process
✦ Donation by 4,000 recovered members of Shincheonji, who represent 91% of all blood plasma donors
✦ Conversion value of '100 trillion won' becomes a topic of discussion in Korea
✦ The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KCDC): “Thank you, Shincheonji Church”
[Cheonji Ilbo = Reporter Hye-in Choi] “The birth of this first vaccine is truly a 'miracle'. What was supposed to cost billions of dollars over 10 years was accomplished in two and a half years. I liken this to the success of the moon landing in the past.”
Professor Woo-joo Kim of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Korea University Guro Hospital, president of the Korean Vaccine Society, spoke the above words on the 22nd and emphasised that the birth of the first domestic vaccine would have been an impossibility without public-private cooperation.
He likened the birth of this first vaccine to the Korean launch of the 'Nuri' rocket or the moon landing, which succeeded after much trial and error.
Professor Kim said, “In the past, sending a probe to the moon and having people walk on the lunar surface was not achieved overnight, yet what has been accomplished here has been done in a short period of time. It was possible because of public-private cooperation, which allowed economic support from international organisations.”
On the 29th of last month, Korea's first vaccine for the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) was born. The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) decided to approve the product for SK Bioscience's 'Skycobi One Multi Injection (GBP510)'. It was developed in 2 years and 6 months, which is a quarter of the normal development period of 10 years, making Korea the third country, after the US and UK, to have self-developed both COVID-19 treatments and vaccines.
Skycobi One was created by genetic recombination, which is considered a traditional vaccine development method. Nuvaxovid consumption also falls under this method. Recombinant vaccine was named because genetic recombination technology is used in this process to produce only that part using the antigenic determinant information possessed by the pathogen's DNA. Although it is very safe, it is also known that it takes a long time to synthesise and mass-produce proteins, making it more difficult to develop than mRNA-based or other types of vaccines.
Even in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, the development of a domestic vaccine was considered a buzzword. This is because world-class developers who have already commercialised vaccines, such as AstraZeneca (AZ), Janssen, Pfizer, and Moderna, jumped into it as latecomers with the highest level of technology. In particular, it was also a problem to obtain a vaccine to be used as a control to confirm safety and effectiveness.
Antibodies from AZ vaccines were also used here, but what was also used was plasma from about 4,000 confirmed cases, which was difficult to donate at a time when there was general reluctance to donate in the early days of COVID-19. Professor Kim emphasised, “Since there are no absolute values or control standards, we could have compared the neutralising antibody titers with the blood of people who had contracted coronavirus and recovered.”
◆ “Development would have been difficult without blood plasma donation”
This opinion is in the same vein as the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KCDC), who stated that development would not have been possible without members of Shincheonji Church of Jesus, the Temple of the Tabernacle of the Testimony, who were responsible for more than 90% of donated blood plasma.
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| On the 22nd, Woo-joo Kim, president of the Korean Vaccine Society, and Professor of Infectious Diseases at Korea University Guro Hospital, explains the birth of the country's first vaccine |
“The amount of international standard material (plasma) supplied by the World Health Organization was insufficient to be used in clinical trials related to domestic treatment and vaccine development,” said Jun-woo Lee, a researcher at the National Institute of Health and Care Research of the Korea Center for Disease Control. “Thanks to those who actively donated plasma, we were able to make the national standard material, which was invaluable in evaluating the efficacy of samples in domestic COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials,” he said.
He also said, “I am very grateful to Shincheonji Church for allowing their remaining plasma to be used for the development of a treatment and vaccine for COVID-19, despite their many difficulties at that time.”
According to an official from the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, the national standard for vaccine had a significant impact until the birth of the first domestic vaccine. Vaccine national standard refers to the serum for which neutralising antibodies for vaccine efficacy are measured. This is plasma containing antibodies from cured people and is used for efficacy evaluation in vaccine clinical trials in the development stage.
However, the amount provided by the World Health Organization was only 1ml per year, so it was insufficient for use in clinical trials. Comparative antibody titers of those who were not vaccinated and confirmed were needed, but it was difficult to find a target because most of the people had already been vaccinated and had immunity.
◆ Chairman Lee urged members to “Take the lead in donating plasma”
Under this situation, the blood plasma of Shincheonji members donated across three group and individual donations was used. The plasma of 3,741 people accounted for 91.3% of the total plasma donors (4096) as of the end of 2020.
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| About 4,000 people of Shincheonji, who had recovered from COVID-19, participated in the third group blood plasma donation for the development of a COVID-19 treatment for three weeks from November 16th to December 4th 2020. A total of 3,741 people participated across the three rounds of blood plasma donations |
The large-scale donation of blood plasma by Shincheonji members resulted from an an appeal to “lead the effort in plasma donation so that the blood (plasma) of the congregation members who have been atoned for their sins by the blood of Jesus can be used to overcome COVID-19 for the citizens and the country.” This was done in the midst of an active climate.
It became a hot topic when it was announced that the value of the donated plasma from about 4,000 recovered people equated to a whopping 100 trillion Korean won (c.£65 billion).
The New York Times (NYT) revealed that at that time, the blood of a cured person was being traded at a maximum of $40,000 per milliliter (20 drops) (about 50 million won at the time). Based on the actual transaction price of 1 ml of bio companies and 50 million won, the simple conversion of the value of blood of 4,000 people who have recovered from Shincheonji would be about 200 billion won. However, according to Green Cross, which is in charge of developing a plasma treatment for recovered patients, the amount of blood for each recovered person is 500 ml. Converting this to the actual transaction value, it comes to the conclusion that '4000 people * 500 ml * 50 million won = 100 trillion won.'
◆“No. 1 vaccine, effective against sub-variants”
Due to the nature of the COVID-19 virus, various mutations occur in a short period of time. Recently, following the original Omicron (BA.1) and Stealth Omicron (BA.2) variants, BA.4 and BA.5 sub-variants have even appeared, as has the centaur (BA2.75), which has the highest propagation speed ever. On the other hand, there is also an expectation that Skycobi One will be effective against these various mutations as the Omicron mutation immune response is confirmed when it receives the booster shot. Recently, SK Bioscience's booster shot clinical trial in which 81 adults were vaccinated 7 months after the 2 doses of Skycobi One showed that the preventive effect on Omicron was about 25 times higher than immediately after the 2nd dose. It is predicted that the Skycobi One vaccine will be less susceptible to mutation than the mRNA vaccine because it uses the protein itself.
Regarding this, an SK Bioscience official said, “If inferred through experiments, it is expected that it will be effective against variants, such as omicron and BA.5.” He added, “The vaccine can be converted and developed by changing it to Omicron and BA.5 from Wuhan Species, and clinical trials can be conducted by requesting the government authorities. In the long-term, the goal is to create a 'universal' vaccine effective against any mutation.”
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Blogs and Reports on Shincheonji Church of Jesus' 'Live ON' Blood Donation Campaign, 18-30 April 2022, and resulting vaccine to treat Omicron and BA.5 mutant viruses in Korea
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“Korea’s first vaccine to protect from the mutant variant”: Shincheonji's blood donation is a 'hidden gem'
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Blood Donation to Overcome COVID-19 Pandemic in Korea
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