Preventing the next pandemic using AI-designed vaccines A first-in-human trial shows how computationally designed antigens could help shift vaccines from reactive to future-proof. Written byBree Foster, PhD

https://www.drugdiscoverynews.com/preventing-the-next-pandemic-using-ai-designed-vaccines-17251 For most of human history, infectious diseases were the main causes of morbidity and mortality. Advances in sanitation, antibiotics, vaccines, and public health dramatically shifted that balance, particularly in high-income countries, where life expectancy has increased by nearly 40 years over the past century. Yet the COVID-19 pandemic provided a stark reminder that infectious threats can still reshape societies almost overnight. Between 2019 and 2021 alone, life expectancy in the US fell by more than two years, and recent modelling suggests there is roughly a 50 percent chance of another COVID-scale pandemic occurring within the next 25 years.