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Single vaccine for all variants of COVID developed, claims US Army

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Within weeks the scientists at Walter Reed Army Institute of Research of US Army are expected to announce that they have developed a vaccine that is effective against COVID and all its variants, even Omicron, as well as from previous viruses that have killed millions worldwide,

reported.

Within weeks the scientists at Walter Reed Army Institute of Research of the US Army are expected to announce that they have developed a vaccine that is effective against COVID-19 and all its variants, even Omicron, as well as from previous SARS-origin viruses that have killed millions of people worldwide, it reported. The Walter Reed Army Institute of Research is the largest biomedical research facility administer­ed by the US Department of Defence.

The achievemen­t is the result of almost two years of work on the virus. The US Army lab received its first DNA sequencing of the COVID-19 virus in early 2020. Very early on, Walter Reed’s infectious diseases branch decided to focus on making a vaccine that would work against not just the existing strain but all of its potential variants as well, the report said.

Walter Reed’s Spike Ferritin Nanopartic­le Covid-19 vaccine, or SpFN, completed animal trials earlier this year with positive results. Phase 1 of human trials, which tested the vaccine against Omicron and the other variants, wrapped up this month, again with positive results that are undergoing final review, Dr Kayvon Modjarrad, director of Walter Reed’s infectious diseases branch said. Unlike existing vaccines, Walter Reed’s SpFN uses a soccer ball-shaped protein with 24 faces for its vaccine, which allows scientists to attach the spikes of multiple coronaviru­s strains on different faces of the protein.

The Walter Reed Army Institute of Research is the largest biomedical research facility administer­ed by the US Department of Defence

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