China’s Wuhan virology institute creates nasal Covid-19 vaccine for ‘future pandemics’
‘Broad spectrum’ nanovaccine can target multiple coronaviruses, says team at institute once in spotlight over Covid lab leak theory
The institute – which has engaged in bat coronavirus research for years – has in recent years been embroiled in controversy, and scrutiny from countries including the United States, over accusations that the Covid-19 pandemic originated from a lab leak at its facilities.
But with consistent support from the Chinese government, researchers at the institute have continued their studies into Sars-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes Covid-19.
Although existing vaccines have been used to help prevent the spread of Sars-CoV-2 and reduce mortality, none offer broad or universal protection against all forms of the virus, according to the team behind the nanovaccine.
The team discovered that combining coronavirus epitopes – parts of antigens that trigger the immune system – with the blood protein ferritin could produce an intranasal nanoparticle vaccine that protected against multiple variants of Sars-CoV-2.
These included Delta, Omicron and the WIV04, an early strain isolated from a patient in Wuhan, where the pandemic was first reported.
