Research is currently being carried out into the development of new corona vaccines.
But these should be completely different from the syringe in the upper arm.
Kassel - The vaccines that have been developed are currently the most effective means against the coronavirus.
But even these show their limits in the fight against Corona *.
According to a weekly report from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) dated September 2nd, 2021, 101,877,124 Covid-19 vaccinations have been administered in Germany so far.
65 percent of the population are vaccinated at least once and 61 percent are fully vaccinated (as of 01.09.2021).
But so-called vaccination breakthroughs are always associated with this.
That means: people become infected with Sars-CoV-2 despite a complete vaccination.
Since February of this year, a total of 24,098 vaccination breakthroughs have been counted by the RKI.
Corona pandemic in Germany: researchers are working on inhalation vaccines
"The coronavirus penetrates the body via the respiratory tract and causes the greatest damage in the case of an illness in the lungs," explained the immunologist Reinhold Förster from the Hanover Medical School in the world.
That is why research is endeavoring to develop vaccines for inhalation.
These work in a similar way to a nasal spray.
There were reports of research work months ago.
Now seven of the so-called inhalation vaccines are said to have been tested on volunteers.
According to aerzteblatt.de, clinical results are not yet available.
However, the vaccine Ad5-nCoV, which is approved in China, shows a good antibody response in the phase 1 study.
The vaccine was tested on 130 healthy adults at the Zhongnan Clinic of Wuhan University.
New corona vaccines: vaccines are in the test phase
According to Förster, the new vaccines should have many advantages compared to the previously approved corona vaccinations.
First and foremost, however, they are more effective because the Sars-CoV-2 viruses are stopped directly when they penetrate the airways.
At the same time, immunization with the new preparations should be associated with less effort.
Inhalation vaccines, however, are still quite new on the market.
There is only one product available to protect children from the flu.
However, this is a live vaccine that cannot be compared with the previous vector and mRNA vaccines.
Live vaccines
contain small amounts of reproductive pathogens, but these have been weakened so that they do not cause the disease themselves.
Inactivated vaccines
only contain killed pathogens that can no longer multiply or only components of the pathogen.
Of the preparations for inhalation in the test phase, one is a live vaccine.
The immunologist Förster sees little chance of approval here.
He is also critical of dead vaccines or protein-based preparations, one of which has also been developed.
These are too permeable and do not adequately protect the lungs.
The Austro-French company Valneva is currently working flat out on a new corona vaccine.
This is a dead vaccine.
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According to Förster, the vector vaccines, such as those from Astrazeneca and Johnson & Johnson, are more suitable.
Five of the vaccines in the test phase rely on a vector.
The Swedish-British pharmaceutical company Astrazeneca has also developed an inhalation preparation.
A harmless virus is used to develop the vaccine so that the blueprint for the coronavirus spike protein gets into the body.
This is intended to induce an immune response.
Förster is also working with a virologist at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich, Gerd Sutter, on an inhalation vaccine.
To do this, the research team uses a cowpox virus.
Cowpox is a mild pox-like disease that mainly affects cattle.
In Germany, however, there has been no known infection of cattle in recent years.
The new generation of vaccines requires a lot of research
A lot of research is needed before the new generation of corona vaccines is approved.
Förster does not want to give false hope in this context.
In the meantime, the injection into the upper arm remains, which has so far also offered very good protection.
A research team from Bonn is also working on the development of a corona drug - with the help of alpacas.
The goal is a nasal or inhalation spray.
(kas)
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