Latina Scientist Who Co-Created New Patent-Free COVID-19 Vaccine Among Nobel Peace Prize Nominees

By Jess Smith First Posted: Feb 08, 2022 03:23 AM EST

Latina scientist Maria Elena Bottazzi has co-created a new COVID-19 vaccine with Dr. Peter Hotez, and they became among the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize nominees for their work.

Bottazzi and Hotez led the Texas Children's Hospital Center for Vaccine Development team that created the Corbevax vaccine, NBC News reported.

Corbevax is a low-cost COVID-19 vaccine with no patents or other intellectual property protection in sharp contrast to the other vaccines worldwide.

On Tuesday, Houston Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher nominated Bottazzi and Hotez for the Nobel Peace Prize for the development of Corbevax, which has already received emergency authorization for use in India last month.

Last week, the 56-year-old Latina microbiologist received a call from Fletcher, which she said turned out to be one of the great surprises of her life.

Bottazzi said she was "shocked" and "speechless" when Fletcher told her that she had nominated the Latina scientist and Hotez for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Bottazzi noted that they were very excited and grateful because they feel that being nominated in one of the world's most prestigious accolades means they were already winners.

Botazzi is also a bioengineer who graduated from the Honduran Autonomous National University (UNAH). In a tweet, the UNAH rector said they were proud of Bottazzi's nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize, adding that it was "a recognition of her extraordinary work in health and contribution to humanity before and during the COVID-19 pandemic."

Hondura's President Xiomara Castro also congratulated Botazzi on Tuesday for her scientific achievement. Castro noted that this was "the moment" for her country's women.

The Latina Scientist on Creating an Accessible, Inexpensive COVID-19 Vaccine

Maria Elena Bottazzi has never forgotten her roots. She still speaks about Honduras, where she grew up. In an interview with Noticias Telemundo, Bottazzi said it never crossed her mind to look for a job at a multinational company.

She noted that she is a Central American who does non-profit projects as her way of "giving back a little of what Honduras has given" her.

Corbevax is based on recombinant protein, a well-known technology that has been used in well-established drugs such as hepatitis B and pertussis for decades. The Corbevax vaccine contains a small amount of viral proteins in order to activate the body's immune response, but without making patients sick.

According to Bottazzi, she and Hotez created a "vaccine for the poorest communities" in the world. She said they wanted to develop a COVID-19 vaccine that could provide relief to countries that do not have the funds to keep buying expensive vaccines.

In acquiring approval in India, two Phase III clinical trials with about 3,000 people from 18 to 80 years old were conducted in 33 research centers.

Corbevax was found to be both safe and well-tolerated in the tests. According to the company, the vaccination was more than 90 percent effective against the original COVID-19 strain and more than 80 percent effective against the Delta variant.

According to Bottazzi, they chose the most scalable, reproducible, and stable method, which results in Corbevax having a much cheaper process than the messenger RNA technology that Pfizer or Moderna used.

The Quest For Free COVID-19 Vaccine

Maria Elena Bottazzi's research focuses on producing vaccines for emerging infectious diseases and neglected tropical diseases. In 2016, she had previously developed a vaccine against the SARS-CoV virus, which did not receive funding to enter clinical trials.

With the offset of the pandemic, Bottazzi and her team secured the funding to develop Corbevax, a drug that would be "free for everyone," as she often says.

"Everyone talks about equity, but nobody does anything," said the Latina scientist on why they created Corbevax.

However, Bottazzi noted that it would not be enough compared to the multinationals' projects as her team is "still missing 9,000 million doses," if they consider the first and second doses, boosters, and pediatric doses.

According to The Conversation, India's largest vaccine maker, Biological E. (BioE), has a licensed patent-free for Corbevax. It plans to manufacture at least 100 million doses per month starting in February 2022.

Other low and middle-income countries will be able to produce and distribute the low-cost, stable, and relatively easy-to-scale vaccine domestically due to the patent-free arrangement, the report noted.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Jess Smith

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