Breakthrough New coronavirus Vaccine Candidate Can also Fight Specific Types of Influenza

 

By the end of this year, the United States and the European Union may have at least one coronavirus vaccine approved for emergency use. At that time, high-risk groups can be immunized. With the advent of more vaccines, more adequate vaccination activities will be launched globally in the first few months of 2021. Of course, this is based on the assumption that some experimental drugs that enter the final testing phase are proven to be safe and effective, because not all drugs will be successful after phase 3 trials, no matter how promising they seem. The current status of COVID-19 vaccine research is that more than a dozen vaccines have reached the phase 3 clinical stage. The more vaccine methods available, the more likely we are to find an effective vaccine. Scientists have proposed perhaps one of the most interesting COVID-19 vaccine concepts to date-not only because it can be sprayed instead of routine injection, but because it can provide protection from COVID-19 and flu at the same time , Because it targets both diseases at the same time.

Researchers from Hong Kong have developed a flu and COVID-19 vaccine, which will enter the first phase of trials in Hong Kong in November. This means that the drug will not seek regulatory approval for a few months, and this is assuming that it has passed the three-phase test and proved to be successful. However, medical experts predict that the pandemic will not end until the end of 2021 at the earliest. Some people believe that the pandemic will last until 2022, and even after that, the virus may continue to circulate in the community. It means that while other treatments and preventive measures are taken, it is necessary to continue to use vaccines to control the disease. Yuan Guoyong told Bloomberg that the first phase of the trial will begin in Hong Kong, recruiting about 100 adults. Yuan Guoyong is the research leader of infectious diseases in the Department of Microbiology of the University of Hong Kong, which participated in this research.

The concept of the vaccine is similar to that of influenza vaccination via spray. This vaccine is designed to be inoculated in the nasal cavity where the respiratory virus enters the body. But scientists went a step further and created a dual vaccine that can provide protection from both coronavirus and flu at the same time. "Our idea is that we want to provide protection against influenza and COVID-19 at the same time," Yuan Guoyong said the vaccine uses a weakened influenza virus that only grows in the upper respiratory tract. The attenuated virus cannot replicate itself and has been genetically engineered to include the coronavirus spike protein.

If successful, the vaccine will trigger an immune response against the coronavirus, and the immune system should produce neutralizing antibodies against the spike protein to block the true coronavirus. The immune system also reacts to the influenza virus used in the vaccine. The vaccine has received funding from the Epidemic Preparedness Innovation Alliance (CEPI) and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government. CEPI will also analyze successfully developed vaccines and compare all research results to determine the best way to prevent infection. The Hong Kong trial will have the first phase of results within a few months of starting in November.