Rapid development of vaccines against emerging pathogens: The replication-deficient simian adenovirus platform technology

Despite the fact that there had been multiple small outbreaks of Ebola Virus Disease, when a large outbreak occurred in 2014 there were no vaccines or drugs available for use. Clinical development of multiple candidate vaccines was then initiated in parallel with attempts to contain the outbreak but only one vaccine was eventually tested in a phase III trial. In order to be better prepared for future outbreaks of known human pathogens, platform technologies to accelerate vaccine development should be employed, allowing vaccine developers to take advantage of detailed knowledge of the vaccine platform and facilitating rapid progress to clinical trials and eventually to vaccine stockpiles. This review gives an example of one such vaccine platform, replication-deficient simian adenoviruses, and describes progress in human and livestock vaccine development for three outbreak pathogens, Ebola virus, Rift Valley Fever Virus and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus.