A Nasal vaccine could be a game changer against respiratory infectionsmanaging to do what injectable vaccines have failed to do: prevent transmission of the virus. From Covid to seasonal flu, from respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) to avian flu, considered by many experts to be the new pandemic threat, Airborne pathogens will find a tough obstacle to overcome in so-called mucosal vaccines that are sprayed into the nose or dropped into the mouth.. Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis demonstrated this in a complex experiment conducted on hamsters using a nasal vaccine against Covid. The results of the study are published in ‘Science Advances’.
The vaccines against Covid-19, “developed at lightning speed in just a few months” after the appearance of the new coronavirus, have been “a triumph of modern science” and “have saved millions of lives”, recall American scientists. But “despite all the good they have done by reducing disease and death, the injections failed to stop the pandemic” because “they were not able to block the spread of the virus”. A weak point that mucosal vaccines will not haveargue the authors of the new work.
The study and the tests
Using a nasal anti-Covid vaccine based on technology from Washington University, already approved in India and licensed to the US biotech company Ocugen for further development in the United States, Researchers have provided unprecedented evidence: hamsters vaccinated with the spray, even if infected, did not pass the virus to other hamsters, thus interrupting the transmission cycle. A traditional injectable vaccine, on the other hand, proved not to be able to do so.
“To prevent viral transmission, you need to keep the amount of the pathogen in your upper airways low. The less virus there is, the less likely you are to infect someone else by coughing, sneezing or even just breathing,” says Jacco Boon, a professor of medicine, molecular microbiology and pathology and immunology at Washington University and senior author of the study. “This study shows that mucosal vaccines are superior to injectable vaccines in limiting viral replication and preventing transmission of the virus to another person. In an epidemic or pandemic situation, this is the type of vaccine to aim for,” he says. (continued)
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