By Georgia Parsonson
The first generation of COVID-19 vaccines have been (or soon will be) distributed throughout the world, but that hasn’t stopped the on-going research into developing safer, more durable vaccines for the Novel Coronavirus.
Using the convalescent plasma of individuals who have recovered from COVID-19, a group of researchers have successfully identified a method that enables producing a vaccine that will offer protection from all of the major strains of COVID-19.
The institutions behind the milestone are Griffith University, the Gold Coast University Hospital, the University of Queensland, the University of Alberta (Canada), and Olymvax Pharmaceuticals (Chengdu, China).
According to lead author, Professor Michael Good, a successful vaccine can produce a response that will protect the patient for a year, which would then allow for a COVID-19 jab to be administered annually.
Mr Good explained, “Vaccines must also have an excellent safety profile. This is particularly relevant for a vaccine against a disease for which the infection fatality rate in young people is very low.”
He further indicated that vaccines developed from the research would contain such a safety profile.
“This research provides hope and new insight into how to make a vaccine that would provide protection against all major strains of the virus currently responsible for the pandemic.”
In a recent report released by the World Health Organisation, there have been over 2.7 million new cases of COVID-19 across the globe in the last week alone. In light of this fact, hope is something sorely needed.
Professor Mark Von Itzstein AO, Director of the Institute for Glycomics, said, “Our institute researchers have rapidly responded to tackle COVID-19 using a multi-pronged approach, and these latest results towards the development of next-generation COVID-19 vaccines are very exciting. We hope that these vaccine candidates will deliver new solutions to this high impact disease.”
The study may be found published in Clinical and Translational Immunology.