THE Pfizer and Moderna vaccines may help guard against future viruses from animals, according to new research.
Experts say current mRNA Covid-19 jabs may already offer some protection against killers like MERS or other unknown threats.
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In "exciting" experiments, scientists at North Carolina's Duke University tested mRNA vaccines similar to the approved Covid jabs on lab monkeys.
They found they induced antibodies that not only protected against Sars-CoV-2- which causes Covid-19 – but could also protect against other coronaviruses, reports the Telegraph.
"These results demonstrate current mRNA vaccines may provide some protection from future zoonotic betacoronavirus [coronaviruses crossing from animal to human] outbreaks, and provide a platform for further development of pan-betacoronavirus vaccines," the researchers concluded.
Both the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines use mRNA technology while AstraZeneca is considered a viral vector-based vaccine.
The mRNA-based Covid vaccine works by tricking the body to produce a harmless piece of the virus, triggering an immune response.
Scientists have long warned the next coronavirus-style pandemic may well be just "around the corner."
They say it is not a matter of "if", but "when" another Covid-style pandemic rocks the world.
News of the research comes as:
- Experts warned that the Indian variant could be up to 60 per cent more transmissible than the Kent strain
- The work-from-home order should END next month when lockdown is over, the PM said
- New variants pose a 'lethal danger' and could spark the worst Covid wave yet, Boris Johnson warned
- The government announced a full public inquiry into coronavirus, beginning in Spring 2022
- A senior minister refused to rule out local lockdowns to crack down on Covid hotspots
Asked if the next Disease X could potentially be around the corner, Mark Woolhouse, professor of infectious disease epidemiology at the University of Edinburgh, said in January “absolutely”.
Speaking to the PA news agency, he said: “You could use the phrase ‘it is when, not if’.
“We can’t put a handle on when, of course. The precise mechanism by which a virus comes out is always extremely unpredictable.
“You can never predict precise events, so you have to do it on sort of statistical grounds probability.”
"Disease X" is the name given to the unknown viruses that pose a great danger.
Prof Woolhouse said every year or two scientists are discovering one or two viruses that are transmissible to humans – a rate that has been constant for more than 50 years.
Sars-Cov-2 is the third threatening coronavirus to strike this century, after the viruses causing MERS (Middle East respiratory syndrome) and SARS (Severe acute respiratory syndrome).
The research team at Duke – whose paper was published in Nature-also tested a new jab they developed which works differently to other mRNA vaccines.
It showed even more potent cross-protection against other coronaviruses, including all known variants of Sars-CoV-2, bat coronaviruses and Sars-CoV-1.
This new vaccine also stopped viral replication in the nose, suggesting it could have a major impact on the spread of deadly viruses.
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