sponsored by the federal health agencyResearchers believe the vaccine candidate may provide even better protection against emerging variants than the COVID vaccines given via injection."The concept is that we're looking for next generation vaccines," said Dr. John Brownstein, an epidemiologist and chief innovation officer at Boston Children's Hospital and an ABC News contributor.
Colorized scanning electron micrograph of a cell infected with the Omicron strain of SARS-CoV-2 virus particles , isolated from a patient sample.in non-human primates found MPV/S-2P to be safe and well-tolerated and that it produced a robust immune response, both in SARS-CoV-2 antibodies and in the epithelial cells that line the nose and respiratory tract.
While most vaccines use a weakened or inactivated virus to stimulate an immune response, mRNA vaccines teach the body how to make proteins that can trigger an immune response and fight off an infection. "The current vaccines have diminished efficacy over time," Brownstein said. "These vaccines were highly protective against severe COVID hospitalizations and deaths, it wasn't as effective at slowing cases and preventing transmission."
There will be several trial sites including at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston Texas; The Hope Clinic of Emory University in Decatur, Georgia; and New York University Grossman Long Island School of Medicine in Long Island.Participants will be split into three groups, each receiving different dosages. Researchers will follow-up with the volunteers seven times over the course of a year and measure if the vaccine is safe and if it produces an immune response in the nose and in the blood.