New COVID-19 vaccine may protect against existing and future strains of coronavirus - Staunton News Leader

CHARLOTTESVILLE — A new vaccine that could provide protection against existing and future strains of the COVID-19 coronavirus, other coronaviruses, and cost about $1 a dose has shown promising results in early animal testing, according to scientists at University of Virginia Medical Center and Virginia Polytechnic University. .

“Killed whole-cell vaccines are currently in widespread use to protect against deadly diseases like cholera and pertussis," said Zeichner.

Meng and Zeichner made two vaccines, one designed to protect against COVID-19, and another designed to protect against porcine epidemic diarrhea virus.

PEDV and the virus that causes COVID-19 are both coronaviruses, but they are distant relatives.

One advantage of studying PEDV in pigs is that Meng and Zeichner could study the ability of the vaccines to offer protection against a coronavirus infection in its native host — in this case, pigs.

In some unexpected results, Meng and Zeichner observed that both the vaccine against PEDV and the vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 protected the pigs against illness caused by PEDV.

The vaccines did not prevent infection, but they protected the pigs from developing severe symptoms, much like the observations made when primates were tested with candidate COVID-19 vaccines

If both the PEDV and the COVID-19 vaccines protected the pigs against disease caused by PEDV and primed the immune system to fight the disease, it is reasonable to think that the COVID-19 vaccine would also protect people against severe COVID-19 disease, the scientists say