Covid superjab
THE race is on to develop a single vaccine that could protect against all Covid variants, with at least 12 research teams on the job and some already trialling candidate shots.
Researchers at the University of Sydney have identified a variant-proof vaccine they hope to have in human trials early next year.
Israel’s Migvax is working on a multivariant vaccine that would come in a freezedried tablet which dissolves in the mouth.
In the US, the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research has a vaccine against multiple coronaviruses in a small phase one human clinical trial.
Monkeys given the vaccine were protected against the original Wuhan variant of Covid as well as the Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta variants, and the original Sars virus from 2003.
Another team of researchers at Oxford and Caltech Universities have tested
a one-shot vaccine that contains eight coronavirus variants.
Mice given the jab generated antibodies that could neutralise coronaviruses not even included in the vaccine.
These new types of jabs are vital because the virus behind Covid is mutating so fast that even before companies develop new vaccines to deal with the latest variant, the virus has moved on.
Earlier this year, Moderna and Pfizer rapidly produced updated vaccines to deal with the original Omicron variant, but before they had even concluded trials, the virus had mutated and two new variants – BA.5 and BA.5 – had taken off.
Recently a new variant – BA.2.75 – has begun spreading in India.
“Feasibly, we can’t update the vaccines in time to provide really robust protective immunity against all of them in time,” said University Sydney virologist Dr Megan Steain, who is working on a super vaccine.
“The idea is to generate or
create a vaccine that generates immunity, which will hopefully be effective against any variants that could potentially emerge in the future so that we’re not always chasing our tails.”
Her team is part of a consortium with a Swiss protein production company ExcellGene and Indian vaccine manufacturer Bharat Biotech, which was awarded $19.3m by Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI).
They are mixing together a range of different Covid mutations in vaccines in a bid to find one that will drive the broadest immunity.
The aim is to find a product that targets parts of the virus that were unlikely to change when it mutated, she said.
Former Health Department chief Jane Halton said the superjabs were under early stages of development but would be vital.
“We need to get to the second generation of vaccines, to ones that provide boarder protection,” she said.