In mice, a vaccination strategy that uses an mRNA coronavirus vaccine injection followed by a nasal spray booster generates immune protection in the airways.
A new coronavirus vaccine protects one part of the body, the nose, that is especially vulnerable.
This is what scientists found after giving lab mice a booster of nasal spray. The spray brought hordes of immune fighters to the nasal hole, which is where coronaviruses usually enter our bodies, and the lungs, where they are most likely to spread, according to a preprint on bioRxiv.org.
COVID spike protein is the only thing that makes up this vaccine. It is part of a theory that, it is hoped, will protect people against the infection, one day. Known as “Prime and Spike,” the strategy is based on getting an injection of an mRNA coronavirus vaccine that makes the immune system more likely to recognise SARS-CoV-2. Then, a nasal spray vaccine is used to make the mucus membranes more resistant to SARS-CoV-2.
Study author Akiko Iwasaki, who works at Yale University, says that this strategy could help fight the decline in efficacy of latest mRNA COVID vaccines.
A virus expert at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis says that scientists hadn’t tried these vaccines on those animals with some protection against this virus until now. But he wasn’t part of the new study. People who took the intranasal booster had a good immune response in their nose and lungs, says the author of the paper that talks about it. “It’s a good idea, and I hope they try it out on people.”