How in hell did they make the t-Vaccine? (and other t-Virus stuff)

[News Bot]

I can't quite wrap my head around this concept. Degeneration shows us that WilPharma Corporation has somehow successfully developed a 100% effective vaccine against the t-Virus. When the movie first came out, I didn't think nothing of it. Pretty reasonable progression for the series. However, there are some problems with it. Namely that I don't think it's possible. For one thing, there is no such thing as the "t-Virus", referring to a singular viral strain. "t-Virus" is just a general name for an entire category of viruses (weaponized variants of the Progenitor Virus).

First of all, the t-virus is not something which first existed in the natural world. In the beginning, the founding board members of Umbrella including Lord Spencer discovered a new type RNA virus called the "Progenitor Virus". By incorporating the genes of other viruses in this Progenitor Virus and adding improvements, it became ideal and easy to use as a military weapon for developing biological weapons (refer to next section) - this project that Umbrella performed was called the "t-Virus Project".

The biohazard outbreak occurred because of the T-Virus leaking from virus storage on the island by attack of the mysterious Special Forces. A lot of different kinds of viruses and B.O.W.s were stored in the military training facility for anti-B.O.W./virus training.

William Birkin made the T-Virus that was developed in the Arklay facility. Other T-Viruses were developed in different facilities and are not related to Birkin's work.

The virus found inside Nemesis-T Type is essentially the same T-Virus that was created by Dr. William Birkin. However, due to the fluids excreted by Nemesis, the virus is highly active.

Note: There are several categories of the T-Virus, the oldest being the original Progenitor Virus. The next oldest is a primitive strain of the T-Virus developed by Dr. Marcus, which was created when the Progenitor virus mutated within the host bodies of the leeches he infected as an experiment. These leeches showed signs of rapid mutation and gained intellect and camouflaging abilities as a result of the infection.

Next is the T-Veronica strain developed by the young genius Alexia Ashford. This strain was designed to increase the physical skills of the human host, but required the subject to be placed in a long period of hibernation to stabilize the virus. If the virus ever became out of control, it ended up transforming the host into a giant monster that looked like a queen bee.

Finally, Dr. William Birkin was successful in creating a relatively stable strain of the T-Virus that went on to become the basis for creating a number of B.O.W.s such as the Hunter, and the Tyrant.

Here's a somewhat accurate list of all of the t-Viruses in the series until we discover more:

Primitive strain (Marcus: Progenitor + Leech DNA):

At last...
The prospect to develop a new type virus using "Progenitor" as the base is in sight.
As a result of various experiments, the combination of leech DNA became the decisive factor.
This will serve as the first "t" success example.
It is the first improved species of "Progenitor".

Birkin strain (Birkin: Progenitor + Ebola):

The "Progenitor virus" was an RNA virus prone to mutate and thereby make it possible to strengthen properties. The reason why Birkin was interested in "Ebola", was strengthening these characteristics by inserting the genes of the "Progenitor virus". Already by that time the sample of "Ebola" had been received by this laboratory.

Stable Birkin strain (variant):

Although the "t-Virus variant" for producing "Zombies" and "Hunters" was adaptable for almost all humans, there was a problem which considerably decayed brain tissue.

Tyrant strain (variant):

It cannot become a "Tyrant" if it cannot maintain some intelligence.
Birkin extracted a new "variant" which suppressed the influence on the brain to a minimum, if it completely adapted in order to overcome the problem.
However, for the variant, there were extremely few humans with the genes to adapt to it.

V-ACT strain (mutation):

The original Crimson Head gave the researchers an opportunity to notice the process called "V-ACT", and the existence of the virus that came with it. Prototype 1 was created using that particular t-virus type, the effects of which created this Crimson Head possessing vitality and combat skills far exceeding those of regular ones and after that, it underwent cultivated production. An analysis is considered impossible as it is so aggressive it instantly slaughters all surrounding people. But it is still a valuable sample, so it was sealed to examine and research it someday.

Disposal Plant P-12A strain (mutation):

July 29
As the decline in function increases, so does the large amount of processing. The contamination level has increased and the viral antibodies cannot correspond to the new species. Workers have become infected.

So considering how many different strains of the t-Virus there are, and also taking into account how the virus can easily mutate in the wild... how is a 100% vaccine meant to exist? Unless it just isn't 100% and the t-Virus is still a threat in the BIOHAZARD world?

[Smiley]

In the movie verse the T-virus was made from pepsi blue. I can only guess the green vial contained a new mountain dew flavor to counter balance the effects.

Game wise we're talking about cures and vaccines that are effective immediately. Almost like magic. I blame wizards.

[DarkMemories]

I imagine it's a vaccine that's only effective against, well, the only strain that matters - the one that creates zombies and most of the creatures we've had to deal with in the series. The other strains only apply to a limited number of individuals or simply aren't viable bioweapons.

Has it ever been stated how they acquired T to begin with? Was this something Wesker offered as evidence in his testimony against Umbrella?

[News Bot]

I imagine it's a vaccine that's only effective against, well, the only strain that matters - the one that creates zombies and most of the creatures we've had to deal with in the series. The other strains only apply to a limited number of individuals or simply aren't viable bioweapons.

Has it ever been stated how they acquired T to begin with? Was this something Wesker offered as evidence in his testimony against Umbrella?

That appears to be the case. However, that's also the strain that has mutated most often in the series. If it mutates that often... what good is a vaccine if not but a temporary solution?

Downing stole the t-Virus and G-Virus from the Raccoon City Underground Laboratory before its destruction. However, it was the U.S. Government who officially supplied it to WilPharma for research, I believe.

[randomwab]

Out of interest, is there a difference between the vaccine you mentioned and the Daylight vaccine from Outbreak?

[News Bot]

Out of interest, is there a difference between the vaccine you mentioned and the Daylight vaccine from Outbreak?

Don't think there's much difference, Daylight just never made it out of Raccoon City. Likewise with the vaccine created by the Raccoon Hospital.

[DarkMemories]

Downing stole the t-Virus and G-Virus from the Raccoon City Underground Laboratory before its destruction. However, it was the U.S. Government who officially supplied it to WilPharma for research, I believe.

Ah, been a while since I've watched Degeneration.

I don't know if there's that much of a problem with mutation for the virus. The V-ACT only occurred at the mansion (and Operation Javier, if I recall) so that's rare in itself. And the likelihood of Tyrant creation is almost nonexistant from what I remember, so that's not really something to keep in mind.

What are the chances that C is another mutation/variant of T, I wonder?

[News Bot]

To add another wrench into this whole thing... the vaccine seen in BH3 was mass-produced by Umbrella.

After the town finally fell into destruction, the existence of this manual was discovered by mercenary Carlos Oliveira of the U.B.C.S. He was working with former S.T.A.R.S. member Jill Valentine who was infected with the t-Virus, and in order to treat her, he successfully generated the vaccine. However, since the hospital has been blown up by Nicholai Zinoviev, who was sent in as a Monitor, most detailed data does not remain. If it does, it will be inside Umbrella, which possesses the know-how and can make a manual. They mass-produced the vaccine before the Sterilization Operation, and did not direct efforts toward citizen aid because, naturally, there was an aim to attempt evidence destruction.

[Pikminister]

Yeah, I was gonna mention the anti-"t" vaccine from RE3...

Or the T-Abyss vaccine featured in Revelations.

[Stars_g36]

uhh remember when sherry gets infected??? and uhh you have to make a vaccine for her??

[News Bot]

uhh remember when sherry gets infected??? and uhh you have to make a vaccine for her??

Yes. The G-Virus. Which has nothing to do with this topic.

[CrimsonElder]

Shit if you dont know I have no idea. It seems like bs to me. First of all have we even seen this T-Virus vacine work? I dont recall seeing it work on anyone in the movie and secondly it took Marcus, Birkin, Wesker and god knows how many other researchers all this time to create the virus and within about a decade they found a cure. Cancer has been around like since man and our best and brightest cant cure it best we can do it slow it down. I would actually like to hear Capcom try to explain this one.

[Pikminister]

Cancer has been around for ages and will continue to be around as long as there is money to be made.

Did you know that there is already a cure for tooth decay? A real cure that will make dentist obsolete? It was discovered last year. It's basically a mouth wash that protects your teeth for 4 days against a specific bacteria that destroys teeth (regular mouth wash only last a couple of hours and doesn't go after specific bacteria). Anyway, the chances that they will allow such a cure to hit retail shelves are slim. They would need to drastically cut the effectiveness of it and to make sure it is too expensive and sold only with a prescription. This to keep the dentistry industry in business.

Anywhoo... cancer and the T-virus vaccine are a different beast.

[CrimsonElder]

Cancer has been around for ages and will continue to be around as long as there is money to be made.

Did you know that there is already a cure for tooth decay? A real cure that will make dentist obsolete? It was discovered last year. It's basically a mouth wash that protects your teeth for 4 days against a specific bacteria that destroys teeth (regular mouth wash only last a couple of hours and doesn't go after specific bacteria). Anyway, the chances that they will allow such a cure to hit retail shelves are slim. They would need to drastically cut the effectiveness of it and to make sure it is too expensive and sold only with a prescription. This to keep the dentistry industry in business.

Anywhoo... cancer and the T-virus vaccine are a different beast.

Lol well you learn something new everyday.

Yeah I appriciate they are different but it was an example. I realised after posting this that there is no 'cure' for cancer persay but if you discover it fast enough they have an 80% chance of saving your life. Which is pretty awesome now. It was on the tv this morning funny enough.

[TheSelfishGene]

A few possible alternatives:

The vaccine is against all variants (ie. many strains pooled. Ala a flu vaccine)
The vaccine stimulates antibody production against all forms (as they are related and may have similar surface proteins)
The vaccine is actually against some strains, but there's no way to tell. Eg VACT strain has only been released once, before the vaccine was developed). It may or may not protect against this strain.
The virus may well mutate and make the vaccine redundant ala a flu vaccine however this hasnt occured.