The danger of being infected with Corona increased significantly again in this country during the summer wave. This shows the major weakness of the previous corona vaccines: They protect well against illness and death, but after a few weeks or months they hardly or not at all against infection. The fact that two and a half years after the outbreak of the pandemic hardly anyone is seriously ill with Covid-19 is an enormous success. But researchers want to achieve more. They want to stop the coronavirus right at the start of an infection and not just the disease. But this requires new vaccines.
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Researchers already have approaches, but the implementation is relatively complicated. “If you administer the classic vaccinations and boosters via the muscle, you essentially develop antibodies,” explains Jens Hohlfeld. The lung specialist is a professor for respiratory research and aerosol medicine, researches and teaches at the Hannover Medical School (MHH) and at the Fraunhofer Institute for Toxicology and Experimental Medicine (ITEM). “However, these are not sufficient to trigger an immune response in the lungs that completely protects against infection.”
Inhale corona vaccine to be better protected against infection?
New vaccines would therefore have to target other parts of the body. For example, what if the drug is inhaled? The idea: If the vaccine is given directly into the lungs, the immune response via the mucous membrane could be trained in such a way that not only antibodies are formed, but also a cellular immune response. In order to prevent infection, local “defense zones” are needed in the organ, explains Hohlfeld. “That could lead to you fighting off an infection completely and not getting sick at all.”
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Hohlfeld and his research team are also pursuing this approach in an initial study at the MHH. The goal: to develop a vector vaccine that is inhaled and then comprehensively protects the lungs from Sars-CoV-2. This would be particularly beneficial for people with an increased risk of severe Covid-19 and weaker immune responses. However, the project is still in the very early development phase. The proof that this works is still missing. The first laboratory experiments were successful, however, and the drug is now being tested on humans for the first time, reports Hohlfeld.
Researchers in Canada, the UK and China are pursuing similar experiments. Scientists at the Berlin Charité are also testing, for example, a nasal spray that is supposed to improve the training of the mucous membranes in the airways. And what about the big manufacturers of corona vaccines? Biontech and Moderna have also announced that they will adapt and improve their vaccines. The European Medicines Agency expects such updates to be approved in September. However, the manufacturers are currently focusing on something other than preventing infections: They want to tailor their products more specifically to the new virus variants such as Omicron and also increase protection against disease again.
Adapted vaccines from Biontech and Moderna: no better protection against infection expected
According to Biontech and Moderna announcements, the adapted vaccination itself should remain classic: injected via the upper arm. Experts therefore do not expect that this will increase protection against infection in the long term. Since the new vaccine basically works the same as the old one, no improvement is to be expected here, says Andreas Radbruch, scientific director at the German Rheumatism Research Center Berlin (DRFZ). “The protection against infection will be similarly low and short-term.”
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It will probably be a long time before an inhaled vaccine that also prevents corona infections is approved and used on a larger scale. There isn’t anything like this across the board yet. It is also more complicated to administer. All studies on this are still in their infancy. Also the project of the MHH. It remains to be seen to what extent the vaccine is effective, safe and tolerable, explains Hohlfeld. Blood is taken from the subjects. Lung endoscopy is used to check what is possible in terms of immune responses. Good devices for administering the drug via the lungs would also have to be developed.
Protection against infection by corona vaccines – probably not too soon
“I don’t expect that such a Sars-CoV-2 vaccine will be available and approved on a large scale in the coming year,” says Hohlfeld. “But I do believe that at some point we will be able to create a better immune system in the population with inhalation vaccinations in the event of new waves of infection.” There is, of course, the desire to make a contribution to this pandemic with such a development. “But we also see how quickly new challenges for vaccine research arise as a result of mutations,” says Hohlfeld.
One thing is clear: the need will remain. More efficient vaccines are needed. Because the corona virus is no longer disappearing from the world. With the help of new findings on inhaled vaccines, Hohlfeld also gives hope in the fight against other lung diseases. “Such new technologies could also be used in other areas,” says the expert. You just have to show that it works.
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