In a new study from Lancaster University, researchers create a COVID-19 vaccine which can be administered through the nose has taken a big step forward.
The experiments of the intranasal vaccine showed a reduction in both the impact of the disease itself and transmission of the virus.
In the study, the team immunized hamsters with two doses of the vaccine, and found they showed complete protection from lung infection, inflammation and pathological lesions following exposure to the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
Importantly, two doses of the intranasal vaccine were found to effectively reduce the virus “shedding” from the nose and lungs—suggesting the vaccine has the potential to control infection at the site of inoculation.
This should prevent both clinical disease and virus transmission, to halt the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.
While injectable vaccines are offering a strong reduction in hospitalization and death, there is currently no registered intranasal vaccine against COVID-19.
The team says after they administered the vaccine into the noses of hamsters and then infected them with SARS-CoV-2, they found almost no virus replication in the lungs and nasal wash.
In contrast, animals given normal vaccines showed easily detectable SARS-CoV-2 virus replication in their lungs and nasal washes.
The vaccine is based on a common poultry virus called the Newcastle Disease Virus (NDV), which can replicate in humans but is harmless.
The scientists engineered NDV to produce the spike proteins of the SARS-CoV-2 virus which causes COVID-19, tricking the body into mounting an immune response against SARS-CoV-2.
The vaccine-induced neutralizing antibodies against several novel variants of SARS-CoV-2, raising the possibility of broad protection in vaccinated individuals.
The team says this is an exciting next step in the development of a vaccine for COVID-19.
There is currently an intranasal influenza vaccine registered for human use so administering a vaccine in this way has already been proven to be effective.
If you care about COVID vaccines, please read studies about old vaccines can fight new pandemics like COVID-19 and findings of a single dose of the Moderna or Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine may not be enough to reliably ward off infection.
For more information about COVID vaccines and your health, please see recent studies about this ‘warm vaccine’ may effectively fight all COVID-19 variants and results showing that new inhaled COVID-19 vaccine may prevent disease and transmission.
The study is published in iScience. One author of the study is Dr. Muhammad Munir.
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