Question

You are a reporter working in a year in the past and writing an article about a new vaccine. Your article will take place in the year the vaccine was invented (or approved for use on the general public) and should be written as if it were a current event. It is your job to deliver information about the new vaccine and create public awareness. Choose one vaccine and list the date and person(s) or company responsible for creating it. Describe the disease the vaccine was developed to prevent including the microorganism that causes it. Provide a short background about the severity and effects of the disease at the “current” time period. Describe the way the vaccine was invented or discovered. Relay to your readers the exact way the vaccine works to create a protective result against the microorganism. Communicate the risks, benefits, the method of vaccination, and contraindications of the vaccine. Your readers trust you to give them objective information. At the same time, the vaccine is likely to benefit the general public and your readers may need some gentle persuasion to follow through with immunization.

Answer 1

Disease: Prostate Cancer

Vaccine: Sipuleucel-T (aka Provenge)

Provenge:

The vaccine was developed by a company Dendreon Corporation in Feb 2015. It goes with the trade name Provenge. This is rather a therapeutical than a preventive vaccine. It acts as a immunostimulant.

Prostate Cancer:

Prostate Cancer is deadly cancer developed in prostate gland, a part of male reproductive system. These cancer cells have the tendency of spreading to other body parts mainly nearby muscles and lymph nodes. This type of cancer occurs with aging. 99% of the cancer is found in males with 50+ age. It is diagnosed with Biopsy. The person with prostate cancer has a 5 year survival rate. It is mainly found in African population. But recently with the advent od Provenge vaccine, the survival rate is increased as it suppresses the inflammatory actions.

Treatment method:

Patients WBCs are taken out and sent to incubate with a fusion protein which has 2 parts PAP and GM-CSF (prostatic acid phosphatase). The activated protein is then reinfused into the patients body.

Side effects:

Swelling in arms feets and face, chest pain, difficult to breath, blurred vision, pain in bladder

Approval from FDA:

Food and drugs administration approved it on 2010 to treat asymptotically metastatic cancers.

Benefits:

Three courses in an interval of 2 weeks completes the vaccination process and the patient starts seeing the benefits