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Potential Next Vaccines Don’t Require Needles Or Fridges To Be Effective
By Ell Ko, 16 Sep 2021
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Image via ID 197617503 © Feverpitched | Dreamstime.com
Vaccines are being investigated more today than before thanks to the widespread rollout of COVID-19 doses across the globe.
As crucial as they are, vaccines aren’t the most logistics-friendly piece of medical equipment. Most are required to be kept at very low temperatures, so the mRNA and their protective lipid nanoparticles don’t begin to break down.
As reported by Fast Company, the Moderna vaccine is shipped within -58ºF and 5ºF while the Pfizer option is kept between -130ºF and -76ºF. Both can only last in a fridge for about a month.
This makes transporting them to, and storing them in, remote areas without electricity quite the feat.
There’s also the question of needles, which may be the final hurdle that some have yet to cross to receive the dose.
An alternative method of administration is needed—perhaps it’ll come in the form of an edible vaccine, or perhaps it’ll take the form of this University of California, San Diego concept: a small, sticky patch.
Nicole Steinmetz, director of the University’s Center for Nano ImmunoEngineering, and her team have come up with a fridge-free vaccine developed using viruses from either plants or bacteria. This doesn’t need a needle or to be kept firmly in icy temperatures.
Instead, the vaccines could be integrated into something like an adhesive bandage. These would easily be mailed to the users’ homes, where they’d be able to self-administer them without even needing to leave their room.
Convenience aside, this makes vaccines possible to access by people who live in far-flung remote areas where mobile vaccinations are hard to set up, or traveling to get vaccinated is too much hassle.
As detailed in the study published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, the formula tested on mice showed that the potential vaccines triggered their bodies to produce SARS-CoV-2-neutralizing antibodies.
This level of antibodies, Steinmetz states to Fast Company, is comparable to Moderna’s reported amounts during its preclinical phase.
These “high thermal stability” vaccine candidates come in two virus options: plant or bacterial. Copies of both were grown into a cluster of nanoparticles, then the team attached a bit of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein to the surface.
The full length of the protein isn’t being incorporated as the team has already narrowed it down to just a few key sequences necessary to produce the antibody response, according to Steinmetz.
Both of these viruses aren’t infectious to humans. Additionally, they’ve also adapted so they can withstand various environmental conditions, including temperature. This makes them entirely fridge-free.
“When the next challenge hits—it could be a local epidemic somewhere where you need something heat-stable or something that could be self-administered—then the technology would be ready to do this plug-and-play, and have this readiness for the next virus,” Steinmetz concludes.
[via Fast Company, image via ID 197617503 © Feverpitched | Dreamstime.com]
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