Covid nasal spray could replace vaccine jabs
It is a fact that the Omicron variant moved around the world at lightning speed and along this spread, it revealed a disturbing truth.
The number of cases skyrocketed even among vaccinated people.
This is prompting scientists to rethink their strategy for fighting future variants and aim for a higher level of protection: blocking infections altogether. If they succeed, the next vaccine could be a nasal spray as published in the Washington Post.
But while experts debate when, if and who should receive additional booster shots, a growing number of scientists are beginning to believe that additional vaccinations may have little benefit for most healthy people.
The Omicron variant triggered a sudden, humbling change in perspective about vaccines: For most of 2021, the glass seemed at least half full, then suddenly it was half empty.
“I don’t feel the research establishment should buy into [the idea] we’ve solved this, and we will give you boosters of the current vaccine,” said Larry Corey, a virologist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. “They led us out of the wilderness, but that doesn’t mean it has solved the problem. It’s amazing what they’ve done – but some things are undone.”
But the idea is gaining traction. Akiko Iwasaki, an immunologist at Yale University School of Medicine, said that in early 2021 she considered her nasal vaccine research to be prepared for the next pandemic. Then the Omicron variant changed the equation.
“Having seen all these new variants that are so much more transmissible and rendering our vaccines useless for infection prevention – that’s when we realized we may have the chance to contribute something during this pandemic,” Iwasaki said.
The National Covid-19 Preparedness Plan unveiled by President Biden in March underscores the need to reboot vaccines to adjust variants within 100 days of their emergence and to develop a universal vaccine, “that protects against Covid-19 and all its variants, as well as future emerging coronavirus threats.”
Scientists at the National Institutes of Health and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority – known as BARDA – are testing several next-generation vaccine concepts, including those that could induce mucosal immunity and stop transmission.
CyanVac LLC is on clinical trials with Intranasal PIV5-vectored COVID-19 Vaccine Expressing SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein in Healthy Adults (CVXGA1-001)
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