Beijing: A team of Chinese scientists claims to have developed a single vaccine that can provide dual protection against coronavirus and influenza.
The new vaccine has been tested successfully on mice.
Researchers from Shanghai-based Fudan University presented the new vaccine in a study published recently in the Journal of Virology, saying they designed an immunogen by fusing the SARS-CoV-2 receptor-binding domain to the conserved stalk of H7N9 hemagglutinin and expressed it using a chimpanzee adenovirus vector.
When tested on mice, the constructed vaccine, named AdC68-CoV/Flu, effectively induced both SARS-CoV-2-targeting antibodies and anti-influenza antibodies, providing protection from SARS-CoV-2 and including its emerging variants.
It also provides protection against H7N9 infection, according to the study.
H7N9 is a bird flu strain first reported to have infected humans in China back in March 2013, and it is most likely to cause a common epidemic in winter and spring.
The results suggest that the novel vaccine is a promising approach in the efforts exerted in curbing respiratory virus-causing pandemics, the Xinhua news reported.
