Why Haven't We Developed a Vaccine for The Cold, The Most Common Coronavirus?

[TomCADem]

I am glad that there are now billions of dollars being dedicated to finding a vaccine for COVID-19. However, why hasn't a vaccine been developed for the common cold, which is the most common coronavirus? Indeed, just because you get a cold doesn't mean you are immune and will never get a cold again. Coronaviruses encompass a large family of viruses of which the common cold and COVID-19 are members.

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/general-information.html

Common human coronaviruses, including types 229E, NL63, OC43, and HKU1, usually cause mild to moderate upper-respiratory tract illnesses, like the common cold. Most people get infected with one or more of these viruses at some point in their lives. This information applies to common human coronaviruses and should not be confused with coronavirus disease 2019 (formerly referred to as 2019 Novel Coronavirus).

[Wounded Bear]

1. Because it almost never actually kills anybody, maybe...

Generally, it's an inconvenience, not a life threatening event.

[TomCADem]

3. Scientific American: Why Haven't We Cured the Common Cold Yet?

According to Scientific American, researchers have been looking for a cure for the common cold since the 1950s.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-havent-we-cured-the-common-cold-yet/

Researchers think they’re close to a cure for the common cold, but they first need to solve a complex problem that’s perplexed scientists for decades

Polio, smallpox, hepatitis A and B are all serious viruses humanity learned to subdue with effective solutions. Even the flu, which can shift and mutate each year, has a vaccine. And yet, there’s no remedy for the lowly cold.

That’s not for lack of trying, though. The hunt for a cure for the common cold began in the 1950s, shortly after scientists discovered the primary group of pathogens—known as rhinoviruses—behind the sniffles. Together it accounts for up to 75 percent of colds in adults. But scientists quickly ran into an issue that still stymies researchers today, says Peter Barlow, an immunologist at Edinburgh Napier University in Scotland who is working on a cure for the cold. “The main challenge with rhinovirus is the number of circulating strains,” he says.

There’s at least 160 different strains, or serotypes, of rhinovirus, Barlow says. That means cracking the cold isn’t so much looking for one solution to one problem as it is trying to design a master key to open hundreds of different locks at once. “It’s incredibly difficult to create a vaccine or drug that will target all of those 160 strains,” Barlow says.

[Ms. Toad]

8. That article is specifically addressing a cold caused by rhinovirus

(It even suggests, contrary to general thinking, that thing with similar symptoms caused by the coronavirus are not colds.)

[Towlie]

9. If COVID-19 presents similar problems then it's truly the end of the world as we know it.

[Alex4Martinez]

2. The flu viruses are constantly morphing, every year needs a different vaccine

https://www.tmb.ie/blog/why-do-we-need-a-new-flu-vaccine-every-year

I don't believe the common cold is caused by a singular unique virus.

[TomCADem]

13. Is Influenza a Coronavirus?

I thought they were different types of viruses.

[Alex4Martinez]

15. Not the same but all are viruses, you are correct there.

https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/coronavirus/coronavirus-disease-2019-vs-the-flu

This is an interesting page that traces the mutations of the corona virus:
Genomic epidemiology of novel coronavirus - Global subsample
https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/coronavirus/coronavirus-disease-2019-vs-the-flu

This is for one variant of the seasonal flu:
Real-time tracking of influenza A/H3N2 evolution using data from GISAID
https://nextstrain.org/flu/seasonal/h3n2/ha/2y

Their propensity for evolving, at least some of them, is concerning.

[Hugin]

4. Choose A or B:

A) Factual: Compared to other diseases developing a vaccine for "The Common Cold" class of viruses is relatively difficult due to several factors including a high rate of mutation and until now a relatively good prognosis and low risk associated with contracting one of this class of viruses based on immunity built up over generations. Note: The danger presented by a "novel" (meaning new) virus in this class is very high. Because, by not existing before, the immunity in the population is not present or is very much reduced.

B) Conspiracy Based: The Pharma Bros and Wall Street determined that treating the symptoms of "The Common Cold" were more profitable than curing the diseases in the class. Yielding aisles and aisles of various formulations of a few symptomatic reducing agents at gouging prices. Which have absolutely no curative effects.

[Igel]

5. Mostly A.

But immunity isn't passed down by generations.

It's also not the case that we keep our immunity to a particular cold virus once we've recovered--which is another big factor in not having a vaccine. You get a cold, you're probably able to catch it again a couple of years later--perhaps the following year, almost certainly 4 years later. The immunity doesn't stick.

Given the number of viruses and the fact you'd need a booster shot every could of years ... a vaccination would be more a transfusion.

[Hugin]

11. You chose wisely...

The passage of immunity to a class of diseases is very much generational. The human immune system is the direct product of evolution. In fact, the presence of this system is precisely why vaccines work in the first place. Over the eons our ancestors have been faced with an onslaught of pathogens. Over time those exposures have developed a means of clearing bodies of various deadly invasions. One theory about why a new virus such as COVID is so deadly is because the immune system is over reacting to something it has no experience with causing a malfunction of it's typical responses. Or, alternatively, there is some action of the new virus itself to which there is no systemic defense.

Another example of generational passage of immunity:

"Human milk immunity refers to the protection provided by mother to infant via the biologically active components in human milk. Human milk was previously thought to only provide passive immunity primarily through Secretory IgA, but advances in technology have led to the identification of various immune-modulating components. Human milk constituents provide nutrition and protect the immunologically naive infant as well as regulate the infant's own immune development and growth."

From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_milk_immunity

[thesquanderer]

12. re: "But immunity isn't passed down by generations."

One way it is is that people whose genetics leave them prone to succumb to a particular prevalent illness will not (as a whole) tend to reproduce as successfully (have as many offspring) as people whose genetics permit them to not experience that illness as likely to be fatal.

[JI7]

6. everything i have read says it is just not worth it

[LostOne4Ever]

7. From what I remember from my College immunology class on Rhinovirus

The common cold mutates and changes far too rapidly to create any type of vaccine.

Also, if I remember correctly the common cold is caused by the Rhinovirus not the Coronavirus. I think your link is just saying the symptoms are LIKE the common cold. It isn't saying that the common cold is caused by the Coronavirus.

[defacto7]

10. Some illnesses from viruses and bacteria make us stronger. SARS-CoV2 is not one of them.

Neither is Malaria, Polio, Measles etc. Just sayin.

[Crunchy Frog]

14. Higher priorities?