New inhaled vaccine delivers broad protection against COVID-19, variants

Editor's Note

In this study, Canadian researchers at McMaster University (Hamilton, Ontario) confirm that their newly developed inhaled form of COVID-19 vaccine provides long-lasting protection against the original strain of SARS-Cov-2 and variants of concern.

The researchers compared two types of adenovirus platforms for the vaccine. The adenoviruses serve as vectors to deliver the vaccine directly into the lungs without causing illness themselves.

Both types were found to be effective against highly transmissible variants because they target three parts of the virus, including two that do not mutate as quickly as the spike protein.

The research, which was initially conducted on animal models, is now being evaluated in healthy adults who have already been vaccinated with two doses of a COVID-19 mRNA vaccine

Because inhaled vaccines target the lungs and upper airways where respiratory viruses first enter the body, they are more effective at inducing a protective immune response, the researchers say.