Current standard vaccine testing protocols take approximately 10-24 months of testing before a vaccine can be declared successful. Sometimes by the time a successful vaccine is out for public use, the outbreak may already be over. With no vaccine or antiviral drug available to treat the infected, we are left with the age-old methods of isolation, quarantine, and rest, to arrest such a viral outbreak. Convalescent blood therapy and covalent plasma therapy have often proved effective in reducing mortality, however, the role of innate and adaptive immune cells in these therapies have been overlooked. Antigen presenting cells (APCs), CD4+ T memory cells, CD8+ T memory cells, and memory B-Cells all play a vital role in sustainable defense and subsequent recovery. This report incorporates all these aspects by suggesting a novel treatment therapy called selective convalescent leukapheresis and transfusion (SCLT) and also highlights its potential in vaccination. The anticipated advantages of the proposed technique outweigh the cost, time, and efficiency of other available transfusion and vaccination processes. It is envisioned that in the future this new approach could serve as a rapid emergency response to subdue a pathogen outbreak and to stop it from becoming an epidemic, or pandemic.
Keywords: COVID-19; Convalescent Blood; Leukapheresis; Transfusion therapy; Vaccination; WBC.
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