In a study led by Stanford Medicine researchers, a low-cost COVID-19 vaccine that does not require refrigeration provided immunity in rhesus monkeys for one year.
Stanford Health Care (Photo: STEVE FISCH/Stanford Health Care)
on February 7, 2021
Following the global and local emergence of COVID-19 variants, Stanford researchers predict that the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines will continue to be mostly effective in the near future, though each of the new strains responds differently to the current vaccines.
Multiple variants have been identified to date, but the most concerning ones are the B.1.1.7 strain discovered in the United Kingdom, B.1.351 in South Africa and P.1 in Brazil –– all of which have already reached the United States. Recently, the new L452R strain identified in Denmark caused outbreaks in Santa Clara County.
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IMAGE: A schematic visualization of the ferritin nanoparticle with shortened coronavirus spike proteins, which is the basis of a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine candidate from Stanford. view more
Credit: Duo Xu
Before the pandemic, the lab of Stanford University biochemist Peter S. Kim focused on developing vaccines for HIV, Ebola and pandemic influenza. But, within days of closing their campus lab space as part of COVID-19 precautions, they turned their attention to a vaccine for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Although the coronavirus was outside the lab s specific area of expertise, they and their collaborators have managed to construct and test a promising vaccine candidate.