After nearly two years, scientists at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research believe they have developed a vaccine that is effective against all COVID and SARS variants.
Researchers at Walter Reed expect to officially announce the completion of the vaccine in the coming weeks, Defense One first reported.
The Army began working on the Spike Ferritin Nanoparticle COVID-19 vaccine (SpFN) in early 2020.
They worked from the very beginning to develop a vaccine that could protect against any variants or existing viruses.
After positive animal testing, the lab was cleared for human Phase 1 trials in April 2021.
Walter Reed Army Institute of Research will announce that a vaccine has been developed against any and all COVID or SARS variants.
The Spike Ferritin Nanoparticle COVID-19 vaccine (SpFN) is set to officially be announced in the next few weeks as Omicron is expected to become the dominant strain
Dr. Kayvon Modjarrad, director of Walter Reed’s infectious diseases branch, confirmed to Defense One that Phase 1 successfully finished earlier this month testing against Omicron and other existing variants.
Results showed that the SpFN vaccine creates both a strong immune response and broad protection against multiple COVID and SARS variants.
‘The accelerating emergence of human coronaviruses throughout the past two decades and the rise of SARS-CoV-2 variants, including most recently Omicron, underscore the continued need for next-generation preemptive vaccines that confer broad protection against coronavirus diseases,’ Modjarrad said.
He continued, “It’s exciting to reach this point for our whole team and I believe for the entire Army,” he said.
Phase I tested the vaccine in human subjects that had not been previously infected or vaccinated. Next, vaccines will be tested in human subjects who were previously vaccinated.
Omicron is the only way to get rid of this virus. It is not possible to escape it. Modjarrad added that she believes it will happen soon, with either everyone being vaccinated or the entire world infected.
Walter Reed will be working with unnamed industry partners to roll out the next version of the vaccine.
For nearly two years, Army scientists have been researching the vaccine.
Human subjects not previously vaccinated and infected by the virus were able to successfully complete Phase I of human clinical trials.
‘Our strategy has been to develop a ‘pan-coronavirus’ vaccine technology that could potentially offer safe, effective and durable protection against multiple coronavirus strains and species,’ Modjarrad said.
SpFN vaccine is made up of a soccer ball-shaped protein, which has 24 faces. It allows multiple coronavirus strains’ spikes to be attached to different parts of the protein.
As the Omicron variation has been causing a sudden spike in the COVID all over the globe, the Army is pleased to have made the discovery.
On Monday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that Omicron has been implicated in approximately 3 in 4 new COVID-19-related cases.
The Omicron variant accounts for over 90 percent of all new cases in New York, New Jersey, New York, New Jersey, New York, New Jersey, the Southeast and Gulf Coasts, as well as the Northwest.
Omicron prevalence is lower in some regions, but the variant has spread quickly enough to be dominant within weeks.
Scientists estimate that Omicron is spread three to five times faster than the Delta version.
Even if it causes more mild disease, high numbers of cases can still create an enormous burden for already-overstretched hospitals.
In late November, the Omicron variant was identified for the first time in South Africa. It has become the predominant variant in the U.S. within a matter of months.
According to new CDC data, Omicron is capable of spreading faster than any other variant and has taken over within weeks.
The Omicron variant has been responsible for 73 percent new Covid cases in the United States as of December 18.
It’s a sixfold increase over the week before, which was responsible for 13 percent of all new cases.
As Omicron continues to quickly spread, a new study found that those who are unvaccinated but were previously infected by the Delta variant may have very little protection against Omicron.
In Austria, researchers from the Medical University of Innsbruck tested blood samples of people who were able to beat an older strain of the virus for antibodies.
Only one of seven tested samples had enough infection-fighting protein to kill Omicron.
However, COVID victims who had been fully vaccinated also showed an increase in their ability to fight the strain.