They said the new vaccine design, described in the PNAS journal, could help fill global vaccination gaps and could be applied to vaccines against other diseases.
Scientists have developed a new protein-based vaccine candidate for COVID-19 that they say is much easier to produce and does not need refrigeration. The research team at Boston Children’s Hospital, US, noted that currently available Covid vaccines require cold storage and sophisticated manufacturing capacity, which makes it difficult to produce and distribute them widely, especially in less developed countries. They said the new vaccine design, described in the PNAS journal, could help fill global vaccination gaps and could be applied to vaccines against other diseases. The new vaccine candidate elicited strong immune responses against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, and its variants in mice, the researchers said.
The vaccine was successfully freeze-dried and later reconstituted without losing efficacy, they said, adding it remained stable and potent for at least seven days at room temperature. The new experimental COVID-19 vaccine is completely protein-based, making it easy for many facilities to manufacture, according to the researchers. It has two components: antibodies derived from alpacas, known as nanobodies, and the portion of the virus’s spike protein that it uses to enter the human cells, they said. “We could also attach the whole spike protein or other parts of the virus,” said study first author Novalia Pishesha…
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