Scientists are currently working to develop a vaccine that could fight all types of coronaviruses to help prevent the next pandemic.
The La Jolla Institute for Immunology, in San Diego, California, has received a $2.6 million grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to work on their ambitious project to potentially prevent future pandemics.
Researchers believe that they could use the research and development that led to the creation of the COVID-19 vaccines in order to prevent similar viruses.
They aim to target specific parts of the virus structure that are unlikely to change as the virus evolves.
San Diego researchers received a grant from NIAID for research on a vaccine to protect against all current and future coronaviruses. It would not only be effective against Covid but also MERS and SARS. Pictured: Microscope images of COVID-19 cells
Dr Erica Ollmann Saphire, president of La Jolla Institute (pictured), stated that her team hopes that their research will prevent the need to continually launch new vaccines against different viruses.
Dr Erica Ollmann Saphire of the La Jolla Institute stated in a statement that instead of constantly launching new vaccines, “we need one vaccine that’s going be able to protect against SARS CoV-2 variants as well as any coronavirus emerging next.”
Her team is working with scientists from Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard University, and Massachusetts General Hospital.
Researchers have created a model for Covid spike proteins called “VFLIP”, which can be used by researchers to gain a better understanding of the structure and function of virus cells.
A more precise look can help researchers develop stronger, more efficient antibodies.
VFLIP’s stability, robust production, and its capacity to elicit a powerful, long-lasting immune response capable of neutralizing infectivity from different variants of VFLIP are reasons for this. [Covid] make this immunogen an excellent tool for the design of novel pan-coronavirus vaccines,’ said Dr Eduardo Olmedillas, who is leading the research at La Jolla, said in a statement.
“The biophysical properties of VFLIP make it possible to further study on vaccine platforms like mRNA or nanoparticle-based vaccines. This opens up the possibility of designing more potent pan-coronavirus vaccinations.
While the term “coronavirus”, which was unfamiliar to most people until late 2019, when a virus that eventually caused a global epidemic, first appeared in China’s China, it refers instead to a whole group of viruses that have existed since the 1960s.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there are seven types of coronavirus.
Before COVID-19, the most well-known coronavirus was severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). This virus originated in China and rapidly spread around the globe, causing an epidemic in 2003.
Since 2004, there has been no known transmission of SARS.
Other notable coronaviruses include the Middle East respiratory syndrome, or ‘MERS’, or the ‘camel virus’ as it has been dubbed.
The COVID-19 vaccination is the first coronavirus shot to be made available to the general public. Two-thirds of Americans have had at least one shot.
The virus was first discovered in Saudi Arabia in 2012. It is believed to have originated from neighboring Jordan.
While transmission of the virus is rare, it is incredibly deadly killing around three or four out of every 10 patients infected.
Despite the fact that neither of these viruses have been identified as vaccine-worthy, it is unlikely that there has been any.
The COVID-19 coronavirus vaccine is the first ever developed.
Every ten years, a new version of coronavirus which can cause problems for people erupts.
COVID-19 is the most dangerous virus to date, but there are other viruses that could be more destructive.
Researchers are hoping to create a shot that can ‘wardoff future pandemics’ by inoculating people against viruses that do not yet exist.
