A vaccine that partially protects against COVID-19 already exists

If you're still postponing your flu shot this year, here's another reason to get it quick. There is a chance that this vaccine could provide some protection against COVID-19, says virologist Robert Gallo, who runs the Institute of Human Virology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. Writes about it NPR.

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“The key is to get the right flu vaccine,” says Gallo, one of the main scientists credited with discovering HIV. — The vaccine must contain a live virus. The virus is weakened so it doesn't cause illness, but otherwise the virus is alive."

Live virus may sound a little daunting, but it is the standard way to create safe and effective vaccines. In fact, you have most likely already received several "live attenuated" vaccines, such as the measles vaccine or the oral polio vaccine.

Now scientists are just beginning to realize that these vaccines may offer some unexpected benefits to the immune system.

When developing a vaccine, scientists have several ways to make it. They can take part or a component of bacteria and use it to trigger an immune response in a person. They can kill the pathogen and use its corpse as a vaccine. Or they can take a live pathogen and weaken it in the laboratory.

The latter are called “live attenuated vaccines,” and over the past century, scientists have noticed something special about these vaccines: they seem to offer some protection not only against the target disease, but against many different diseases, including respiratory infections.

“There's a lot of evidence for this,” Gallo says. “We don’t actually know the durability of the protection.” It will probably only work for a few months, but we can't say for sure."

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Take the tuberculosis vaccine, for example. It is called the bacillus Calmette-Guerin, or BCG. It contains a live but attenuated strain of bovine tuberculosis.

When doctors in Sweden first started using BCG back in the 1920s, they noticed not only that the vaccine reduced the risk of a child dying from TB, but that children who received it had an all-cause mortality rate nearly three times lower. than unvaccinated children. Since the 1970s, scientists in West Africa have documented a similar pattern with both the BCG vaccine and the live measles vaccine. In other words, vaccines did something to boost the immune system's response to many types of pathogens.

Recently, doctors in the Netherlands directly tested the BCG vaccine against placebo to see if it could help volunteers fight a weakened form of yellow fever. According to the study, people who received the BCG vaccine developed a stronger immune response against the virus and cleared the virus more effectively than those who received a placebo.

It looks like it's not just BCG that has this effect. There is growing evidence that any live vaccine can provide some broad, non-specific protection, including oral polio vaccine, measles and live influenza vaccine.

Scientists find it hard to believe the evidence because this idea contradicts their understanding of how vaccines work, says immunologist Zhou Xing of McMasters University in Ontario. "This is a new concept that has emerged in the field of immunology in the last five to ten years."

Typically, vaccines trick the body into producing antibodies. These antibodies are very specific. They usually target only one type of infection and neutralize it exclusively.

Live vaccines also work through antibodies, but they probably do something else. These vaccines recharge our body's frontline defenders - the cells that first recognize an invader and try to get rid of it before the infection gets out of control, Zhou says. Specifically, scientists believe that live vaccines epigenetically reprogram immune cells in the bone marrow called myeloid cells.

Unlike antibodies, myeloid cells are nonspecific—they target many types of invaders. And they work quickly when the virus first enters the human body.

Now the big question is: Will live vaccines help get rid of the coronavirus in the human body before it gets sick or before the infection becomes serious?

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To understand this, scientists around the world are currently conducting more than a dozen clinical trials of both BCG and live polio vaccines to see if they offer some protection against the virus that causes COVID-19.

No one believes the protection will be as strong—or as durable—as that provided by a COVID-19 vaccine, said Dr. Moshe Arditi, who is leading one of the trials at Cedars Sinai in Los Angeles.

But, he said, the BCG vaccine has several advantages over the specific vaccine. It is cheap. A dose costs only a few dollars. And we already know it's safe. “More than 130 million children receive the BCG vaccine every year, so the safety profile is very high,” says Arditi.

So the BCG vaccine could be approved and available by early next year, he says, "It could be a lifesaver until we have a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine."

In the meantime, virologist Robert Gallo says why not get a live flu vaccine, if possible?

This year, the flu vaccine comes in two main forms: as an injection or as a nasal spray. The shot, approved for all people over 6 months of age who have no contraindications, contains an inactivated virus or its components. Nasal spray (FluMist), approved for children 2 years of age and adults up to 49, contains live attenuated influenza viruses.

“As a side note,” Gallo says, “people who receive the live flu vaccine will also be protected against COVID-19. This is a hypothesis."

However, even if you have received the vaccine, you should still exercise caution: wear a mask, keep your distance, wash your hands, and avoid large indoor gatherings.

Read also on ForumDaily:

WHO: there may be 20 times more people infected with coronavirus than officially recognized

The flu season is already beginning: why it is important to get vaccinated in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic

Within a day and for free: how the United States will distribute the vaccine against COVID-19 and who will receive it

Patient with influenza COVID-19 is not threatened: virologist spoke about the relationship of viruses and quarantine

COVID-19 vaccine: how to become a volunteer and take part in trials

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