South China Morning Post report, a group of scientists from the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China have created a nano vaccine candidate that may provide broad protection against all significant Covid-19 variants, as well as future coronavirus strains.
The institute, known for its long-standing research on bat coronaviruses, has faced intense scrutiny, particularly from countries like the United States, due to allegations that the Covid-19 pandemic may have resulted from a lab leak at its facilities.
Despite the ongoing controversy, researchers at the institute, with steadfast backing from the Chinese government, have pressed on with their studies into Sars-CoV-2, the virus responsible for Covid-19. While current vaccines have been effective in slowing the spread of the virus and lowering death rates, the team behind the new nano vaccine notes that none of the existing options provide comprehensive or universal protection against all variants of the virus.
The team at the Wuhan Institute found that by merging coronavirus epitopes—specific segments of antigens that activate the immune system—with the blood protein ferritin, they could create an intranasal nanoparticle vaccine capable of shielding against various Sars-CoV-2 variants. This vaccine offered protection against strains such as Delta, Omicron, and WIV04, an early version of the virus isolated from a patient in Wuhan, the city where the pandemic was initially identified.
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