How come they can't get a vaccine for other things

[Ke1o9]

As someone who dreads stomach bug season I am curious to why they can't get a vaccine sorted for norovirus and have been trying for years. They can't cure the common cold. They can only do some flu strains. Yet a new virus comes out of nowhere this year and they hope they will have one in no time?

There is a vaccine for rotavirus. There is not much funding for or public interest in a norovirus vaccine. Norovirus kills but not in the first world.
The Oxford group working on the COVID vaccine was working on a universal flu vaccine and is using some of that technology.
COVID is unique because of the international effort it has generated. Usually people care less about vaccines.

They could find vaccines. They dont because there is no big push for it, and no funding.

There are plenty of diseases in the developing world which havent been cured because they only affect the developing world. If they were in Europe or the US then we would have a cure developed.

A sickness bug which doesnt really kill people on developed countries isnt a big enough problem to spend millions on drug development. Covid 19 is all over the world, kills people all over the world, causes shut downs, prevent tourism, destroys economies. Massive incentive to develop a vaccine.

Various reasons depending on the virus some relevant to covid some not

• harder is a virus mutates a lot (trying to hit a moving target)
• harder if no one recovers from a virus (like hiv) since they cannot model the natural immune response relevant to beat it
• harder if there isn’t a good natural immune response Since modelling the natural immune response is the baseline! (this is the one that worries me re covid)
• lack of a need so we have never tried (common cold doesn’t have one as it doesn’t kill enough people to make it worth while developing one.

There are about 200 different viruses which make up the human cold so it would be very difficult to find a vaccine. Also viruses mutate so if you found a vaccine for one type, then before long it has mutated in to another strain.

common cold and norovirus mostly don't kill people. They also don't potentially close down entire economies.
Covid-19 is a major international threat to public health and global economy.

As an example, measles, which we do have a vaccine for, could decimate communities in, say, the 1920s, and leave people blind or deaf (with associated social care costs). It was in the public and gov interests to develop a vaccine to prevent that happening. It's not in anyones interests really to stop people catching colds.

Because colds and norovirus are minor inconveniences for most people. There is no real need to get rid of these viruses. Babies are vaccinated against rotavirus now. I am emetophobic so would love a norovirus vaccine though!!