The Americans have created a universal vaccine that will prevent the next pandemics

American scientists claim to have created the universal vaccine, which protects against Covid-19, SARS and other coronaviruses, a serum that will prevent possible future pandemics.

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Researchers at the Gillings School of Public Health at North Carolina University in Chapel Hill (UNC) have developed a universal vaccine that protects mice not only against Covid-19, but also SARS and other coronaviruses, triggering an immune response against dangerous variants, he writes Sci Tech Daily.

No one knows what virus could cause a new pandemic, but coronaviruses remain a threat after causing the 2003 SARS epidemic and the current Covid-19 pandemic.

To prevent a future pandemic, UNC scientists have designed the vaccine to provide protection against both SARS-CoV-2 and a group of coronaviruses that can make the leap from animals to humans.

The vaccine generated antibodies to several spike proteins

The findings were published in the journal Science by authors David Martinez, a postdoctoral researcher at UNC, Hanna H. Gray Fellow of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and Ralph Baric, an epidemiologist at UNC, whose research reveals new methods of fighting infectious diseases.

UNC researchers have played a key role in the development of the coronavirus vaccine. After testing the effectiveness of the first generation of COVID-19 vaccines, they switched to a second-generation vaccine: one that targets sarbecoviruses, Baric said.

Sarbecoviruses, which are part of the large family of coronaviruses, are a priority for virologists after two have caused devastating diseases in the last two decades: SARS and COVID-19.

The team’s approach began with mRNA, which is similar to that present in the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines used today. But instead of including the mRNA code for a single virus, they welded the mRNA from several coronaviruses.

When administered to mice, the hybrid vaccine effectively generated neutralizing antibodies against several spike proteins – which viruses use to attach to healthy cells, including one associated with B.1.351, known as the South African variant. .

“We can prevent a SARS-CoV-3”

The vaccine has the potential to prevent outbreaks when a new variant is detected, Baric said.

The paper includes data from mice infected with SARS-CoV and related coronaviruses, in which the vaccine prevented infection and lung damage. Additional tests could lead to clinical trials in humans next year.

“Our findings look bright for the future, as they suggest that we can design more universal coronavirus vaccines to proactively protect ourselves against viruses that we know are at risk for humans,” Martinez said.

“With this strategy, we can prevent a SARS-CoV-3,” said the researcher.

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