Vaccine developers at Cornell University are designing a vaccine that they said can protect against both flu and the COVID-19 viruses.
The project, funded by the National Institutes of Health, is using a new technology that allows researchers to take antigens from both viruses and combine them to produce longer-lasting protection from both illnesses.
The researchers have begun testing the vaccine on laboratory mice. They said the data collected over a span of eight months shows strong protection against both viruses with no cellular damage to tissues.
“Imagine we have a single vaccine for both viruses. ... There is a chance of reducing the number of times you go to the hospital or to the clinic to get a flu vaccine or a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine,” said Richard Adeleke, a doctoral candidate in the field of immunology and infectious diseases.
Adeleke is part of the team working on this vaccine. He said this technology is a big step forward for public health.
“We want people to see the value of this platform and how it can be used as a tool for designing broadly protective vaccine or to achieve simultaneous protection against different viruses,” he said.
The Cornell team tested the vaccine against an additional flu strain and the protection sustained, researchers said.
“It may not sound like much, but that’s really the start of the holy grail pursuit when it comes to influenza vaccines,” David Buchholz, postdoctoral researcher, said in a news release.
Adeleke said the technology will also help reduce the cost of vaccine design and implementation. He said the research team is awaiting more funding to continue the trial process. This includes more testing in non-human primates — and then humans.
