Presuppose two important bits of tech: firstly antigen capture and sequencing, and secondly antigen 'printing' or production from an electronic definition.

Local healthcare units could collect new antigens from locals who have fought off new diseases (new strains of the cold, flu etc) and transmit their electronic representation to others around the world. You could then go in every month or so for an all-in vaccine that updates you to the latest version. In other words, antivirus for real infectious diseases.

I think this is the only route by which a vaccine could outpace the spread of a disease via air travel and so on. It also allows people to be less hermetic about catching viruses from other people, because it would be much less likely.
-- imagin8or, Jun 06 2012

Are you confusing antigens and antibodies? If "locals" have fought off the disease, then they shouldn't have any antigens left in their bloodstream.

You could (in theory) isolate the virus from infected patients, sequence its DNA (or RNA if it's flu), email the sequence to someone overseas, and get them to synthesize the relevant viral antigen genes, then produce the viral antigen protein and use it as a vaccine - but that's not exactly a fast process...
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Jun 06 2012


I've always understood vaccine development to take somewhere between 4-18 months, depending upon the pathogen the researchers are trying to pin down. Then again, there are some that are particularly difficult to beat, to the extent efforts have continued for years without success.
-- UnaBubba, Jun 06 2012



random, halfbakery