The Brazilian vaccine, developed with support from FAPESP and other institutions, may provide a longer duration of the immune response and be more effective than vaccines currently available in Brazil against variants of SARS-CoV-2.
Completing all development stages and being available in the coming years, SpiNTec – the vaccine candidate against COVID-19 developed entirely in Brazil – could be an ideal option for vaccination campaigns against the disease. From 2024 onwards, vaccination against Covid-19 will be mandatory for children aged 6 months to 5 years and priority groups in Brazil.
The Brazilian vaccine, developed with support from FAPESP and other institutions, may provide a longer duration of the immune response and be more effective than vaccines currently available in Brazil against variants of SARS-CoV-2.
The evaluation was carried out by Ricardo Gazzinelli, coordinator of the Vaccine Technology Center (CTVaccines) at the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG) and leader of the team that is developing the vaccine, during a lecture at the FAPESP 2023 Interdisciplinary School, Exact and Natural Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, which takes place until tomorrow (08/11) in Embu das Artes (SP).
“We are in the race for SpiNTec to be the vaccine that will be offered annually in vaccination campaigns in Brazil. It doesn't hurt to dream,” Gazzinelli told Agência FAPESP.
According to the researcher, the long-term protection provided by the COVID-19 vaccines in use, based on mRNA technology, is still low and, in addition, they need to be constantly updated due to the emergence of new variants – which represents a problem for candidate vaccines to be used in annual vaccination campaigns.
In order to overcome these obstacles, the researchers leading the development of SpiNTec designed the immunizer to induce a response from T-lymphocytes, defense cells capable of recognizing and generating a response against various parts of the virus molecule, and not just against one of its segments (the spike protein), as occurs with current vaccines.
“We are betting on the possibility of having a pan vaccine, that is, one that is effective against all types of coronavirus variants,” said Gazzinelli.
“The vaccine has already been tested against variants circulating in Brazil, in an experimental model, and we found that it provided good protection. Now, we will test the formulation against this latest variant,” he said.
Another difference of the Brazilian vaccine, which could also be useful for national vaccination campaigns, is that it has high stability, which allows it to be kept at 4° C for 12 months and at room temperature for three weeks, facilitating distribution to distant places.
Source: FAPESP Agency