One vaccine against all variants and future coronavirus outbreaks: it doesn’t seem impossible

People who have had SARS have been shown to produce antibodies after vaccination with Pfizer that successfully fight not only known corona variants, but also other worrying coronaviruses.

Many people agree: we must try to avert another pandemic no matter what. Still, scientists warn that we may be heading for an ‘era of pandemics’. It is not impossible that new coronaviruses will emerge. Researchers are therefore diligently looking for a universal corona vaccine that not only protects against all current spreading corona variants, but also against future coronavirus outbreaks. And important steps have now been taken in that quest.

Different coronaviruses

In the coronavirus family, one subgroup infects human cells through the receptor ACE2 (a kind of ‘house key’ that allows the virus to enter our cells). Both the SARS virus (SARS-CoV-1) that broke out in 2003 and the current wandering coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) belong to this group, as well as a number of other coronaviruses that circulate in animals such as bats, pangolins and civets. Although the exact transmission route is still unknown, we know that these viruses can jump from animals to humans and cause another pandemic. Collectively, this group is called sarbecoviruses; the wider subgenus.

Study

In the search for a single vaccine that may protect against this entire group, researchers a study among different people. They collected eight people who had SARS among their members in 2003, but have since made a full recovery. Ten healthy people were also recruited as well as ten COVID-19 survivors. Next, the team compared the immune response before and after they were injected with the Pfizer-BioNTech mRNA vaccine.

It leads to an interesting discovery. Because the researchers found that the people who had SARS and were vaccinated with Pfizer produced very potent and effective antibodies. These antibodies can neutralize not only the known SARS-CoV-2 variants, but also other animal coronaviruses of concern.

SARS survivors

“Prior to vaccination, SARS-CoV-1 survivors had only detectable neutralizing antibodies to SARS-CoV-1, but no or low levels of neutralizing antibodies to SARS-CoV-2,” explains researcher Wanni Chia. “But after two doses of the Pfizer vaccine, they all had high levels of neutralizing antibodies to both SARS-CoV-1 and SARS-CoV-2. They are the only group that now has a broad spectrum of neutralizing antibodies that can compete against ten studied sarbecoviruses.”

Universal vaccine

It’s a promising discovery. Because it is the first time that such a ‘cross neutralizing activity’ has been demonstrated in humans. It therefore strengthens the hope for the development of an effective and universal vaccine that can protect the next generation against various coronaviruses. “Our study points towards the development of a vaccine that can not only help us through the current COVID-19 pandemic, but also prevent or reduce the risk of future pandemics caused by related viruses,” concludes Wang Linfa.

We are already seeing that current vaccines do not fully protect against new, emerging and worrying corona variants. For example, researchers recently came up with the news that both the Pfizer vaccine and AstraZeneca protect less well against the increasingly dominant delta variant. And so a universal vaccine can offer a solution. “That could address the problem,” argues researcher David Lye, “while at the same time acting as a preventative vaccine against future pandemics caused by a coronavirus.”