The ‘universal Covid vaccine’ could be developed within a year, scientists say

A universal vaccine with the potential to be effective against all variants of Covid-19 could be developed within a year, researchers say.

The so-called second generation jab, developed by scientists at the University of Nottingham, targets the virus core as well as the spike surface protein.

If successful, the DNA vaccine could help protect not only against Covid-19, but also against any new strain of coronavirus that occurs in the future.

It comes after AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford said their vaccine provided only limited protection against mild and moderate illnesses caused by the South African variant of Covid-19.

The Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines target only the spike protein, which allows the virus to enter a cell and may therefore lose its effectiveness when mutated.

However, the researchers claim that the core (N) protein, which makes up the bulk of the viral particle, is “highly conserved,” meaning much less likely to mutate.

The Nottingham vaccine would also be relatively simple to make and would not need to be stored at ultra-low temperatures, according to Scancell.

“We’re not necessarily claiming that it’s going to be a pan-coronavirus vaccine, but it has the potential to be just because of where it’s targeted,” Dr Gillies O’Bryan-Tear, chief medical officer of the Scancell Immunology Society, which collaborates with the University of Nottingham, told the The telegraph of the day.

Dr O’Bryan-Tear said the vaccine candidate needed a large pharmaceutical partner and hundreds of millions of pounds to go through the clinical trial process.

If this funding is in place, it could be expanded within a year.

“There is no reason why, if we get a partner, we shouldn’t be able to do it as quickly as the others have,” Dr O’Bryan-Tear told Telegraph.

“I think the pandemic will last another two or three years, because of the supply, because of the inability to vaccinate developing countries. During this time, the virus will mutate, so there are plenty of opportunities for newcomers. “