“Intranasal protein vaccine with MF59-like adjuvant protects against SARS-CoV-2, including XBB variants.

In mice, it boosts mucosal immunity with durable neutralizing antibodies.”

PICOBOO randomized trial, evaluating second boosters after mRNA priming. 1) novavax is more durable 2) mRNA vaccines have higher antibody responses 3) novavax has fewer side effects

Pfizer antibody levels drop around 40% between 1 month to 3 months post vax. Moderna is less, w/ a 14% drop in younger adults, 26% decline in older adults. Novavax had only a 3% decline in younger adults and 17% in older adults.

A protein-based vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 has been developed.

It is based on the spike protein containing a modified receptor binding domain (cRBD) with a set of engineered mutations.

It provides broad protection against various SARS-CoV-2 variants.

Study at KU Leuven on hamsters finds that immunity from XBB.1.5 COVID-19 vaccine favors the original strain, limiting antibody response to newer variants like JN.1.

Highlights the challenge of updating vaccines for evolving SARS-CoV-2.

While effective at preventing severe COVID-19, the protection you get from mRNA vaccines can fade within months.

Long-lasting immune cells that fight SARS-CoV-2 aren't usually found in mRNA-vaccinated people, unlike the immune cells for tetanus and flu.

“Is this the way COVID ends? Next-generation inhaled vaccines could be the key to ending pandemic Existing COVID-19 vaccines can prevent severe disease, but not infection. A new hope comes in the form of needle-free mucosal vaccines…

…Some see mucosal vaccines as the best hope to end the COVID-19 pandemic. They are now in development in labs around the world, including in Canada. The United States and other countries are investing heavily in the development of mucosal vaccines for COVID-19 and beyond.”

“I think anybody who tells you COVID-19 isn’t a surprise is not being truthful,” said Matthew Miller, who is co-director of the Canadian Pandemic Preparedness Hub, Canada Research Chair in Viral Pandemics and an associate professor in biochemistry at McMaster University in Hamilton. He is part of the research team that is developing an inhaled COVID-19 vaccine.

“I have studied pandemic viruses for a long time. I completely expected we would be in a place by now where COVID-19 was exhibiting seasonal trends (similar to influenza and other seasonal viruses that generally occur in the fall and winter). Clearly I was wrong.”

“A new study from researchers at the Mayo Clinic suggests that being vaccinated against COVID-19 does little to prevent long COVID.

The findings contradict what has become conventional wisdom in the last 3 years—that vaccines offer a chance to significantly reduce the risk of long COVID, or new or persistent symptoms 3 months or more after infection, most likely by reducing the severity of infection.

Melanie Swift, MD, MPH, was the lead author of the study, which was published in Open Forum Infectious Diseases. She said despite the current thinking that vaccines reduce the risk of developing long COVID, she wasn’t surprised she found no association.”

We will never get this vaccine.

"The [live-attenuated intranasal] vaccine offers potent protection against transmission, prevents reinfection and the spread of the virus, while also reducing the generation of new variants."

So naturally we will never get it.

unlike limited and quickly waning efficacy of MRNA, “innovative vector vaccine developed at the Helmholtz Center for Infection Research (HZI) presents a compelling alternative. It elicits prolonged immune response in animal models, and maintains its efficacy over extended time.”

August, 2024: South Korea: COVID-19 vaccinations to resume amid surge in cases

"Just 4 months after fully shifting to endemic approach, gov’t scrambles to contain virus."

The Korea Times

“Mucosal vaccines go directly into the mucosal tissue where infection begins – for example, intranasally or via tablets. If they could induce strong enough mucosal immunity, such vaccines could reduce the risk of infection and transmission. That’s often called “sterilizing” immunity.

Development of these vaccines has just received a massive boost. A global consortium is being funded to develop and then run human challenge trials of intranasal or inhaled vaccines in a program called MusiCC.”