Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (UC):UC, IMII and Sinovac will lead study of new vaccines against variants of the Coronavirus
Researchers from the Millennium Institute in Immunology and Immunotherapy (IMII) will lead the scientific-clinical study that the Catholic University will carry out from the end of October, in order to evaluate the immune response capacity of new Sinovac vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 – virus that causes COVID-19- that are aimed at combating circulating variants.
Currently, Ómicron is the variant that dominates SARS-CoV-2 infections in much of the world, including Chile, which to date exceeds 4.5 million positive cases of COVID-19 registered by the Ministry of Health .
Dr. Pablo González, associate researcher at the IMII and academic at the UC Faculty of Biological Sciences , will lead the study, which was approved by the Institute of Public Health a few days ago.
“In the study, a new booster dose will be administered to adults of both sexes and from the age of 18 who have previously received two booster doses with different inoculation schedules, that is, people who have received the first two doses of CoronaVac, of he Chinese laboratory Sinovac , and then two booster doses, either with the same or different characteristics, as a messenger RNA-based vaccine or another type of platform”, explains the doctor in molecular genetics and microbiology.
“This may constitute an incentive to get vaccinated and, at the same time, constitutes a way to find an immune response with more chances of avoiding mild or severe symptoms of covid-19” – Pablo González, associate researcher at the IMII and academic at the Faculty of UC Biological Sciences.
People will be enrolled through registration on the website www.vacunavariantescovid.cl. González indicates that those who have had a symptomatic infection with SARS-CoV-2 in the sixty days prior to joining the study will be able to participate in this study, which in total will enroll a little more than 800 volunteers.
Like the CoronaVac vaccine that is currently administered, the three immunizers studied consist of inactivated virus, that is, non-infectious virus that is presented to the body’s immune system. Among the three vaccines to be evaluated in the study, one is formulated based on the Omicron variant; another is trivalent and is made up of inactivated viruses of the Delta and Omicron variants, as well as the ancestral strain; and the third consists of the ancestral strain (similar to CoronaVac).
Pablo González notes that “inactivated virus vaccines, like the three that we are going to test, are the ones that generate the fewest adverse effects after vaccination itself, they are very favorably tolerated by people, with few normal discomforts associated with the immunizer. This may constitute an incentive to get vaccinated and, at the same time, constitutes a way to find an immune response with more chances of avoiding mild or severe symptoms of covid-19 “.
The study will evaluate the ability of antibodies to neutralize different variants of SARS-CoV-2 in the serum of people. “An evaluation of the induced response will be made a month later and another six months after the inoculation has been carried out,” says Dr. González.
“The study will be Sinovac’s first in the world to assess the immunogenicity of these new vaccines, that is, their ability to generate an immune response” – Alexis Kalergis, director of IMII and UC academic .
Pioneer
Dr. Alexis Kalergis, director of the IMII and UC academic , points out that the study that will start at the end of next month will be the first by Sinovac in the world to evaluate the immunogenicity of these new vaccines, that is, their ability to generate a immune response. “This study against variants of SARS-CoV-2 is pioneering and will allow the evaluation of vaccines that are more adapted to the circulating virus with great possibilities of provoking a more protective immune response against different variants of SARS-CoV-2.” Likewise, the scientist indicates that “this study will allow us to know firsthand the type of immune response induced by new vaccines against COVID-19, adapted to circulating viruses.”
The researcher highlights that the study and what the UC and the IMII are doing regarding vaccines against the virus that causes COVID-19, “is based on previous studies that we have done at UC, with results that have been openly disseminated in numerous publications and that have served for decision-making at the public health level. This has involved reaching different pediatric and adult populations, thus helping to limit the pandemic and so that we can learn more about this virus in the short and medium term.”
The research group in charge of the study is the same one that has already worked to test the CoronaVac inactivated vaccine in Chile, which is now administered to adults and children in the country. “We have contributed with results that have generated an impact on public health. It makes us very happy to know that our studies lead to real contributions to the population”, highlights Pablo González.
After the successful phase 3 scientific-clinical study in which said vaccine was tested, our country had priority, preferential and early access to Sinovac’s immunizer, to which the relationship that UC had generated with the Chinese biopharmaceutical contributed. In February 2021, then, the mass vaccination campaign began in Chile, which has one of the highest inoculation rates against SARS-CoV-2 in the world.
Thanks to the Sinovac-UC association, additional studies continued in Chile, including a phase 3 study in the pediatric population that allowed the country to be a regional leader in vaccination against covid-19 for the 3 to 17-year-old segment.