US Army develops vaccine to battle ALL Covid variants

US Army develops a single vaccine to battle ALL Covid and SARS variants.

THE US Army develops a single vaccine to battle ALL Covid and SARS variants, researchers say.

Walter Reed Army Institute of Research scientists said that they expect to announce the finalisation of a vaccine they have developed that is effective against COVID-19 and all its variants, even Omicron, within weeks.

The vaccine, which would also be effective against previous SARS-origin viruses, comes after almost two years of diligent work on the virus, according to Dr Kayvon Modjarrad, director of Walter Reed’s infectious diseases branch.

Research began back in early 2020 when the Army lab received its first DNA sequencing of the COVID-19 virus and according to Dr Kayvon Modjarrad, Walter Reed’s infectious diseases branch decided to focus on making a vaccine that would work against all possible variants.

Speaking to Defense One, Modjarrad said Walter Reed’s Spike Ferritin Nanoparticle COVID-19 vaccine, or SpFN, completed animal trials earlier this year with positive results and “Phase 1 of human trials, which tested the vaccine against Omicron and the other variants, wrapped up this month, again with positive results that are undergoing final review”.

“It’s very exciting to get to this point for our entire team and I think for the entire Army as well,” Modjarrad said.

According to Modjarrad, the vaccine uses a football-shaped protein with 24 faces for its vaccine, which allows scientists to attach the spikes of multiple coronavirus strains on different faces of the protein – which is unlike existing vaccines currently being used.

“With Omicron, there’s no way really to escape this virus. You’re not going to be able to avoid it. So I think pretty soon either the whole world will be vaccinated or have been infected,” Modjarrad said.

“We need to evaluate it in the real-world setting and try to understand how does the vaccine perform in much larger numbers of individuals who have already been vaccinated with something else initially…or already been sick,” Modjarrad said, adding that the new vaccine will still need to undergo phase 2 and phase 3 trials.

In related news, the FDA has granted emergency authorisation for Merck’s oral antiviral COVID pill.

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