It’s Still Worth Funding a Better Covid Vaccine
Washington PostJan 30, 2023
Preliminary results from a Phase 1 clinical trial of a nasal vaccine developed by US-based startup Blue Lake Biotechnology have shown to reduce the risk of symptomatic COVID by 86% over three months when used as a booster dose.
The ongoing trial — which began in August 2021 — comprises 72 participants between the ages of 18-55 who have already received at least two doses of mRNA vaccines, and healthy unvaccinated individuals. Data collection is due to be completed by December.
Every development of a new, better vaccine is a step in the right direction. Three years into the pandemic, COVID is here to stay, which is why broader solutions like Blue Lake's are the way forward — chasing perpetual variants with targeted vaccines is no longer a viable option.
Broader solutions are certainly the goal, but nasal vaccines likely won't meet this. Immunity that comes from infection similarly enters the body through the respiratory tract but only offers a brief period of protection from infection, so nasal sprays would probably have the same impact. The antibodies created by nasal vaccines typically wane quicker than others.
There's a 50% chance that the World Health Organization will announce that the COVID pandemic has ended by Dec. 5, 2024, according to the Metaculus Prediction Community.