Va Tech, UVA scientists say vaccines tested on pigs could offer ‘broad protection’ from COVID-19

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - Scientists at the University of Virginia and Virginia Tech say a promising COVID-19 vaccine they've tested on pigs could offer "broad protection" against current and future strains of the coronavirus – and it could cost as little as $1 a dose.

UVA Health’s Dr. Steven Zeichner and Virginia Tech’s Dr. Xiang-Jin Meng say they were able to successfully deploy the vaccine in pigs.

Zeichner says the technique they used to develop the vaccine could, ultimately, "open the door to a universal vaccine for coronaviruses."

In addition to being cheap, they say the vaccine they’re working on would be easily transported and stored, and it could be easily mass produced in current facilities – opening up possibilities for bypassing hurdles to global vaccination efforts.

"Our new platform offers a new route to rapidly produce vaccines at very low cost that can be manufactured in existing facilities around the world, which should be particularly helpful for pandemic response," Zeichner said.

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The vaccine is still in the early stages of development – but the next step could include human trials. And its use would require approval from the Food and Drug Administration, as well as other regulatory agencies around the world.

"Although the initial results in the animal study are promising, more work is needed to refine both the vaccine platform using different genome-reduced bacterial strains and the fusion peptide vaccine target," said Meng. "It will also be important to test the fusion peptide vaccine in a monkey model against SARS-CoV-2 infection."