Scientists test universal vaccine for cold, flu, Covid and allergies
The nasal spray works to protect the lungs of mice, and could eventually replace multiple jabs if shown to be effective and safe for humans
The world is a significant step closer to a universal vaccine for cold, flu, Covid and allergies, scientists believe.
Experts at Stanford Medicine in the US have developed a universal vaccine that could be given as a nasal spray and could protect against a wide range of respiratory viruses, bacteria and allergy triggers.
Although the study, published in the journal Science, was in mice, they said the vaccine offered broad protection in the lungs for several months.
Vaccinated mice were protected against Covid and other coronaviruses, Staph (which can infect the skin and cause sepsis), Acinetobacter baumannii (which can cause infections in the blood, urinary tract, lungs or wounds), and house dust mites.
If translated into humans, such a vaccine could replace multiple jabs every year for winter respiratory infections. It could also potentially work against new pandemic bugs.
the researchers may have hit on a new concept for vaccination, if the results in mice are confirmed in future studies in humans
Bali Pulendran, director of the Institute for Immunity, Transplantation and Infection at Stanford Medicine and lead author, said: “I think what we have is a universal vaccine against diverse respiratory threats …