New and different anti-Covid vaccines are on the horizon, not only injectable but also in patch and spray and with technologies different from those in use, potentially valid even in countries with fragile economies and health systems, behind with vaccination campaigns because with reduced access to the vaccines now available: this is the perspective that can be glimpsed with a study just announced in the journal Science Advances which places the possibility of a patch-vaccine, low cost and administered in a single dose and, moreover, easy to store in the spotlight. room temperature. The result of a collaboration between the Universities of Queensland and Texas, the active ingredient of the patch is called Hexapro and for now it has given good results on animals.
The patch contains 5000 imperceptible micro-needles to administer through the skin Hexapro - a product, already undergoing clinical trials in the injectable formulation.
Hexapro is based on a modified version of the viral protein Spike, which makes it more stable for longer, in fact it can be kept for over a month at 25 degrees and for a week at 40 degrees; it is therefore promising in poor countries with poor health infrastructures, also because it has low costs. In animal studies conducted so far, the vaccine patch has been found to be effective in defending them from infection and induces a strong immune response, greater than that of the vaccine administered by injection. Given the simplicity of application and easy storage, if clinical trials prove effective, the patch vaccine could become very useful in the most disadvantaged countries that have less access to the vaccines currently in use.
Alongside this possibility, there is the even more concrete one of a new anti-Covid vaccine, currently being examined by the European Medicines Agency, that of the US Novavax, which promises to be effective against variants and which is above all based on a a well-tested and safe mechanism, in use for 30 years in vaccine development, that of "recombinant proteins". Simply put, the Novavax vaccine contains a form of the Spike protein produced in the laboratory with genetic engineering and then an adjuvant to stimulate the body's immune response.
But that's not all, in the field of innovations, in addition to the patch vaccine, that spray is also being studied, which could offer better protection also because it would provoke an immune response directly in the upper respiratory tract and potentially in the lungs, eliciting an antibody response. local and a response of T lymphocytes
, therefore, are the possible alternatives for the near future, which could not only help to break down skepticisms and resistance towards the vaccine, but also facilitate vaccination campaigns in the Southern hemisphere.