An experimental nasal spray has begun testing on healthy adults in the first human trial of a vaccine designed to fight a new strain of the SARS virus.
The nasal spray, MPV/S-2P, was designed by scientists at the National Institutes of Health's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and is being tested on 60 adults at three sites in the US, including Baylor College of Medicine, New York University, and Emory University, reports the New York Times.
SARS killed hundreds of people in 2002 when a strain of the virus, known as COVID-19, emerged.
First-generation vaccines are still effective at preventing severe illness and hospitalizations, but they're less effective at preventing infections and milder forms of disease.
With the continual emergence of new virus variants, there is a critical need to develop next-generation COVID-19 vaccines, including nasal vaccines, that could reduce SARS-CoV-2 infections and transmission," says the NIH's Jeanne Marrazzo in a press release.
The experimental vaccine uses a modified version of the SARS virus, which doesn't cause disease in humans or non-human primates, but does have an immunity to epithelial cells that line the respiratory tract, reports the Houston Chronicle.
The vaccine has been shown to be safe and
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