A kind of catch-all vaccine that could protect against current and future strains of the coronavirus that sparked the COVID-19 global pandemic has already been tested by Army scientists on mice, monkeys, horses, hamsters and even sharks.
Early human testing has begun and researchers expect the first data sets on immunity in the coming weeks. This effort is a new approach to handling viruses, finding ways to defeat families of viruses rather than a specific strain.
And that’s important because medical experts worry that the next pandemic-triggering virus could be more contagious than COVID-19 and far deadlier.
“We know it’s safe and tolerable but we don’t know yet the immunity it confers,” said Dr. Kayvon Modjarrad, director of the emerging infectious diseases branch at Walter Reed Army Institute of Research. He spoke during the Defense One 2021 Tech Summit on Monday.
Modjarrad said that the results so far in animal studies have shown high immunity. If even a fraction of that is present in humans, their current vaccine would be a good option for a next-generation vaccine to combat coronavirus, regardless of the strain.
Their broad-spectrum coronavirus vaccine could also serve as a “booster” shot for soldiers that would offer longer and more durable protection against future variants, Modjarrad said.
The push is an effort to produce robust vaccines that target a family of viruses, rather than past efforts which pursued specific immunization against certain strains. That method is too slow to meet the types and volume of viruses that humanity may face in the coming years.
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