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Post by lowell on Dec 22, 2021 20:52:13 GMT -6
"Can One COVID Vaccine Protect Against All Variants? Defense Department Believes Their Vaccine Can"
By Dawn Geske 12/22/21 AT 1:10 PM
"The Department of Defense’s Walter Reed Army Institute of Research is expected to announce that it has developed a COVID-19 vaccine that can combat all strains of the virus, including the Delta and the rapidly spreading Omicron variants.
The announcement is expected in the coming weeks and is the result of almost two years of research by the Army lab that began DNA sequencing of the COVID-19 virus in early 2020, Defense One reported Tuesday.
According to the news outlet, the research team at Walter Reed had determined early on that it would develop a COVID vaccine that would fight against not only the current strain of the coronavirus, but any potential variants that would crop up in the future. "
' The director of Walter Reed’s infectious diseases branch, Dr. Kayvon Modjarrad, told Defense One, “We decided to take a look at the long game rather than just only focusing on the original emergence of SARS, and instead understand that viruses mutate, there will be variants that emerge, future viruses that may emerge, in terms of new species.”
The vaccine, which is known as the Spike Ferritin Nanoparticle COVID-19 vaccine or SpFN, uses what researchers call a ferritin platform, which is designed to provide more flexibility to target multiple COVID variants of the virus.
The SpFN vaccine underwent animal trials in early 2021, with Phase 1 human trials ending in December, showing positive results that are under review, Defense One reported. British Data Indicate Lower Hospitalization Rate For Omicron
Modjarrad told Defense One human trials took longer than expected as participants need to be unvaccinated and never infected with COVID, which was a difficult feat based on the infectiousness of the Delta and Omicron variants.
“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.
For the next phases of studies, researchers will test the vaccine with people who have been vaccinated or were infected with the virus.
“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 told Defense One. '
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Post by lowell on Jan 5, 2022 21:49:57 GMT -6
Here's more info on the Defense Department's work
"US Army testing universal coronavirus vaccine against all variants "
By Rich Haridy January 05, 2022
'Scientists at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research are leading a massive project aimed at developing a universal coronavirus vaccine that can provide protection against all SARS-CoV-2 variants. A handful of newly published studies are reporting successful preclinical results and Phase 2 human trials are set to kick off very soon.
As scientists around the world received the first genomic sequences of SARS-CoV-2 in early 2020 many began to work on developing an all-important vaccine. A team from the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR) decided to tackle the problem from a different angle. Instead of racing to produce a specific, targeted SARS-CoV-2 vaccine the researchers chose to play a longer game and investigate a more broadly protective vaccine that could produce immune responses against all kinds of coronaviruses, including any specific variants that may arise.
“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,” explains Kayvon Modjarrad, from WRAIR’s Emerging Infectious Diseases Branch. “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.”
Now, two years into this global pandemic, the research is bearing fruit as a number of recently published studies outline an innovative nanoparticle vaccine. The vaccine is called SpFN, or the spike ferritin nanoparticle vaccine.
Instead of focusing on a single permutation of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, as most first-wave COVID-19 vaccines have, this technology harnesses the unique structure of ferritin proteins to present the body with a broad array of different coronavirus antigens.
Ferritin is a naturally occurring protein best known as an iron-carrying particle in human bodies. Its unique structure has been said to resemble a soccer ball in that it has 24 different faces. Before the pandemic researchers had been investigating ferritin nanoparticles as a technology for a universal influenza vaccine because a different viral antigen can be attached to each of those 24 faces.
In the context of a coronavirus vaccine, scientists can attach a different spike protein to each of the 24 faces of a ferritin nanoparticle. This means a single nanoparticle could hold spikes from not only a variety of SARS-CoV-2 variants, but a variety of other common coronaviruses.
“This vaccine stands out in the COVID-19 vaccine landscape,” explains Modjarrad. “The repetitive and ordered display of the coronavirus spike protein on a multi-faced nanoparticle may stimulate immunity in such a way as to translate into significantly broader protection.”
Over the last few months WFAIR researchers have published a number of preclinical studies testing its SpFN vaccine in animals. All studies demonstrated the novel vaccine produced robust immune responses against several SARS-CoV-2 variants.
But perhaps the most promising preclinical study was published in mid-December in Science Translational Medicine. It reported extraordinarily broad neutralizing antibody responses in nonhuman primates against a variety of SARS-CoV-2 variants as well as effective immune responses against the original SARS virus from 2002.
In April 2021 the research team started a Phase 1 human clinical trial testing the safety of the vaccine in a cohort of healthy adults. Results from the Phase 1 trial are yet to be formally announced but Modjarrad did reveal last month that the trial was successful, saying in an interview with Defense One, “so far everything has been moving along exactly as we had hoped.”
Alongside an expansive six-month trial testing both a two- and three-dose protocol, a reason the Phase 1 trial has taken so long is the researchers wanted to track down participants who had either not yet been vaccinated or not been infected with SARS-CoV-2. As you can imagine, finding a willing cohort to fulfill those criteria in 2021 would have been challenging.
Modjarrad has indicated the research team will be testing the effect of vaccine-induced antibodies against all known circulating SARS-CoV-2 variants, including Omicron. A full announcement with those Phase 1 trial results is expected soon.
The researchers are also working on a trial looking at the safety of the vaccine in those previously vaccinated with a current COVID-19 vaccine, and in those who have previously been infected with the virus.
“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 to Defense One.
The research still has a long road ahead, with thorough Phase 2 and 3 human trials needed to establish safety and efficacy. But a single pan-coronavirus vaccine that can tackle emerging variants is a pretty promising prospect, and if this one is successful it could be profoundly valuable in both the ongoing fight against SARS-CoV-2 variants and any other novel coronaviruses that could emerge in the future.'
Source: US Army
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Post by James T. Kirk on Jan 6, 2022 3:31:37 GMT -6
Sounds promising, but will they be able to get it into the army arms?
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Post by lowell on Jan 6, 2022 17:26:27 GMT -6
They didn't have any trouble getting vaccines into my arm when I was in the army. They used an air gun. We walked single file past medical personnel with air guns. Nobody refused. These days it is apparently possible to refuse and get an honorable discharge. People who were drafted back in the 60's would have welcomed that.
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Post by James T. Kirk on Jan 7, 2022 16:47:53 GMT -6
I remember those air powered injectors. We got some kind of injection when I was in high school with one of those things. I have no idea what it was but I'm sure my parents said "yeah, go ahead and shoot him".
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Post by lowell on Feb 23, 2022 16:54:56 GMT -6
To follow the progress of the Army vaccine trials, visit the SpFN COVID-19 Vaccine Tracker provided by the US Army Medical Research and Development Command.
Wow! you can register to participate in a trial. I think I'll do that. Its a way of getting the shot in the arm more quickly.
Well, I see that the only trial they list is the one that is already completed. The age requirement for that one was 18 to 55. They say to talk to your doctor about participating in a trial. Maybe my doctor can get me into phase 2. Unless they have the same age requirement for phase 2.
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Post by James T. Kirk on Feb 23, 2022 18:25:07 GMT -6
To follow the progress of the Army vaccine trials, visit the SpFN COVID-19 Vaccine Tracker provided by the US Army Medical Research and Development Command.
Wow! you can register to participate in a trial. I think I'll do that. Its a way of getting the shot in the arm more quickly.
Well, I see that the only trial they list is the one that is already completed. The age requirement for that one was 18 to 55. They say to talk to your doctor about participating in a trial. Maybe my doctor can get me into phase 2. Unless they have the same age requirement for phase 2.
As a vet you should be able to get it regardless of your age, in my opinion.
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