Nasal Vaccine to Prevent Covid-19 Passes First Tests

Scientists in Berlin have developed a live attenuated vaccine for the nose and recently published a study in "Nature Microbiology". Joint press release by Freie Universität Berlin, Max Delbrück Center, and Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin Coronaviruses spread primarily through the air. When infected people speak, cough, sneeze, or laugh, they expel droplets of saliva containing the virus. Other people then breathe in these airborne pathogens and become infected themselves. A research team in Berlin decided to try to fight the virus that causes Covid-19 where it first takes hold: the mucous membranes of the nose, mouth, throat, and lungs. To do so, the scientists developed a live attenuated SARS-CoV-2 vaccine that is administered through the nose. In the latest issue of the journal Nature Microbiology , the interdisciplinary team describes how this live attenuated vaccine confers better immunity than vaccines injected into muscle.