The corona vaccination is so far the sharpest sword against the virus, but only against serious diseases.
Research is working on new preparations that should also rule out infections.
Munich - Every day we see it again: The approved vaccines do their job very well in the body, especially against severe Covid-19 courses.
Which is quite surprising, because they had to be developed under high pressure and in record time.
But of course the vaccines are not perfect - with the delta variant of the original coronavirus, an opponent who has long since entered the arena is showing its limits.
The result: the number of breakthroughs in vaccination is steadily increasing, immunized people are definitely infectious and therefore a danger for those who have not been vaccinated.
And it is very likely that Sars-CoV-2 will send further mutations into the ring - this is already explained by the completely asynchronous vaccination campaigns around the globe.
New corona vaccines: Previous vaccines are administered intramuscularly
However, the weakness of the drugs that have been administered by syringe so far is not necessarily due to the fact that they had to be rushed out of the ground in a pandemic that was taking off.
Rather, they are basically starting in the wrong place.
Because the vaccines are inoculated intramuscularly.
In the upper arm.
It is well known that the mouth and nose are the gateways for the virus.
"The coronavirus penetrates the body via the respiratory tract and causes the greatest damage in the case of an illness in the lungs," emphasizes the immunologist Reinhold Förster from the Hannover Medical School in the
world
.
New corona vaccines: the future generation will no longer have an injection
That is why research has long been trying to develop so-called inhalation vaccines.
These work like a nasal spray, the immunization takes place through the olfactory organ.
Already months ago there were first reports of corresponding laboratory work.
In the meantime, at least seven of these vaccines are said to have been tested on volunteers.
These preparations have many advantages compared to the previous vaccinations.
Above all, they would be more effective because the coronaviruses are stopped as soon as they enter and cannot make themselves comfortable anywhere in the first place.
In addition, the immunization should be associated with significantly less effort, which means that it can be implemented more quickly.
And there would be no syringe in play, which could convince so many doubters of a vaccination.
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New corona vaccines: The development is largely uncharted territory for researchers
Förster hopes "that they will generate real sterile immunity".
That would mean that vaccinated people can no longer be infected and thus would no longer pass the virus on.
This would make it much easier to bear if it becomes reality, which more and more experts are warning of: that we will have to live with the virus in the future because it will no longer be eradicated from the earth.
However, the researchers are virtually breaking new ground with these inhalation vaccines.
So far, there is only one preparation of this species on the market, which is primarily intended to protect children from the flu.
Problem: According to the report, this is a live vaccine - in contrast to the previous injection vaccines against the coronavirus.
So a real comparison seems difficult.
New corona vaccines: Expert sees the best opportunities for vector vaccines like those from Astrazeneca
One of the inhalation vaccines in the test phase is a live vaccine.
Förster gives it just as little chance of approval as inactivated vaccines or protein-based vaccines, one of which has also been developed.
They would probably be too permeable, the lungs in particular would not be adequately protected.
The Hanoverian doctor calls the vector vaccines as a better solution.
These include the injection products from Astrazeneca and Johnson & Johnson.
The Swedish-British pharmaceutical company has also developed an inhalation vaccine.
A total of five of the seven specimens currently being tested rely on a vector.
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Will vaccination be much quicker and less complicated soon?
The new vaccines could be a big step in the pandemic.
© Marijan Murat / dpa
New corona vaccines: inhalation vaccine against flu raises hopes
A harmless virus is used to smuggle the blueprint for the coronavirus spike protein into the organism so that an immune response is triggered there.
Quasi the test phase for an emergency in the body.
Förster is also working with Gerd Sutter, a virologist at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich, on a preparation of this type.
This is where a cowpox virus comes into play.
In this context, the view of a vector inhalation vaccine against flu that is in the second test phase is also positive.
This uses the same vector as the Russian corona vaccine Sputnik V, the world's first approved vaccine against Sars-CoV-2.
And the results are promising.
So the next stage in the fight against the pandemic is about to begin. But it will probably be some time before the latest anti-corona weapon comes onto the market. Förster doesn't want to raise false hopes. So it stays with the injection in the upper arm, which is known to be very effective.
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