mRNA vaccine
Australia is developing its own vaccine against the coronavirus – protection against Omikron possible
A new vaccine from Australia against the coronavirus could be used (symbol photo)
While the new omicron variant increases concerns about another worsening of the corona situation, the news from Australia could bring some hope: Researchers have developed a new vaccine against the corona virus. It could also protect against new variants.
Researchers at Monash University, the drug manufacturer IDT Australia and the Doherty Institute for Infections and Immunity have developed Australia’s first corona vaccine, as the British “The Guardian” reports. The research in Melbourne, in the Australian state of Victoria, lasted five months.
The vaccine is based on mRNA technology and has yet to survive clinical studies. Around 450 doses were produced for this purpose, which can be administered to 150 people in the first phase of the study from January. Their results are expected at the end of 2022. In order for the vaccine to be approved for the general public, it must go through a total of three clinical study phases – this can take several years.
Vaccine can be adapted to coronavirus variants
Victoria’s Minister of Innovation, Jaala Pulford, spoke of a “significant milestone”. The technology could lead to “a whole new frontier of individualized medicine” and help scientists develop drugs for other diseases, including cancer.
According to Colin Pouton, Professor of Pharmaceutical Biology at Monash University, the vaccine is different from the vaccines that have existed to date. “Existing vaccines are actually vaccines that expose our immune systems to all of the spike protein and coronavirus,” he said. Pouton continued, “We vaccinate the receptor-binding area, which makes up about a quarter of the spike protein.”
The vaccine could possibly also protect against new Covid variants and against Omikron. “We just don’t know yet because only a relatively small number of people have been infected with it,” Pouton said.
The vaccine was originally developed for the beta version, which is no longer available, and which, like the Omikron variant, was first discovered in South Africa. The advantage of mRNA technology is that the vaccine can be adapted to a new virus variant “very quickly, within weeks”.
Source: The Guardian