Peptide vaccines aren’t old and boring, they are new and unproven. From a 2014 review
The vast majority of candidate peptide vaccines are under Phase I (270 studies) and Phase II (224 studies) stage of development.In a total of 452 studies, only 12 studies have progressed to Phase III level of development.Interestingly, all these 12 studies are on therapeutic candidate peptide vaccines indicated for treatment of multiple types of cancers.
AFAICT no peptide vaccine has ever been approved for human use.
So yes, maybe a peptide vaccine could have worked better, but it would have been as much an innovation as the mRNA vaccines.
[this just from googling right now, I’d never heard of peptide vaccines before]
I don’t know about subtle difference between proteins and peptides, but I would say the relevant category is “recombinant vaccines” and I believe that the first such was the Hepatitis B vaccine approved in 1986. This used genetically engineered yeast to produce a protein from the virus that was harvested and injected into people.
Peptide vaccines aren’t old and boring, they are new and unproven. From a 2014 review
AFAICT no peptide vaccine has ever been approved for human use.
So yes, maybe a peptide vaccine could have worked better, but it would have been as much an innovation as the mRNA vaccines.
[this just from googling right now, I’d never heard of peptide vaccines before]
I don’t know about subtle difference between proteins and peptides, but I would say the relevant category is “recombinant vaccines” and I believe that the first such was the Hepatitis B vaccine approved in 1986. This used genetically engineered yeast to produce a protein from the virus that was harvested and injected into people.