In the United States, a rather special vaccine is currently being tested. This is a vaccine whose purpose is to prevent opioid overdoses. It must be said that in this country, opioids are the cause of a real slaughter, with tens of thousands of deaths each year.
The subject of vaccines has been widely debated during the crisis related to the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. many fake news fueled social networks and other platforms, which notably prompted YouTube to formally ban any disinformation on the subject. Nevertheless, research continues with the aim of treating other diseases and ailments. In an article from October 2, 2021, the American channel NBC News witnessed the first injections of a vaccine intended to avoid opioid overdoses.
This is an essay about people addicted to this kind of substances. The volunteers will spend about ten weeks under the supervision of doctors from the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Minnesota (United States). After receiving the vaccine, participants will be regularly administered non-lethal doses of opioids. The objective? Check vaccine reaction.
The operation of the vaccine is very simple. The latter forces the immune system to develop antibodies aimed at a particular target, like all other vaccines. In the context of the trial in question, the target is none other than oxycodone, a very powerful narcotic analgesic. Nevertheless, doctors have already affirmed that the vaccine will in no way prevent addicts from feeling the lack of drugs. This is simply to protect them from overdoses as well as potential brain damage.
You should know that two other universities are also working on opioid vaccines, including the famous fentanyl. On the other hand, all the researchers agree that overcoming this important public health problem cannot come from the creation of one or more vaccines. According to specialists, effective treatments for the addiction itself must emerge, whether they are harmless substitutes or therapies.
Drug overdose numbers in the United States are chilling. In 2020, no less than 93,331 people lost their lives in this way, 70% of them after massive opioid consumption . In addition, 1.6 million people in this country had an opioid addiction problem in 2019. Some of them became addicted after taking it at a party, and others after a prescription. painkillers.
What about France? According to a 2019 report, the National Agency for the Safety of Medicines and Health Products (ANSM) estimates that between 2000 and 2017, the number of hospitalizations for opioid overdoses increased from 15 to 40 per year. million inhabitants . Over the same period, the number of overdose deaths doubled.
