With more than 51 million COVID-19 infections, 808,000 fatalities so far, and the emergence of the newly arrived omicron variant, the coronavirus pandemic is presently showing no signs of abating in the United States – or around the world.
However, researchers at the US Army may hold the key to rapidly tackling the continuing contagion; they have developed a single vaccine that has been proven to be effective against all variants of COVID-19 and the SARS virus.
Successfully Completed Phase 1 Human Trials
The vaccine in question has been created by scientists from the Maryland-based Walter Reed Army Institute of Research; its development will be announced in the upcoming weeks, according to a report by Defense One.
The research institute of the US Army has been working on the Spike Ferritin Nanoparticle vaccine (SpFN) for nearly two years now, since early 2020.
For the time being, the final release date of the new vaccine remains unclear. It will become known after the Army provides the Food and Drug Administration with its trial results.
It is also still unknown if the SpFN vaccine is going to be administered in a single shot or multiple shots.
Earlier this year, the US Army lab carried out animal trials; their results were positive. It was approved in April 2021 for the first phase of human trials.
The head of the institute’s infectious diseases department, Dr. Kayvon Modjarrad, confirmed for the report that Phase 1 human trials were completed successfully and earlier in December, with testing against the omicron variant and other COVID-19 variants.
The results have demonstrated SpFN brings about simultaneously a strong immune response, as well as protection against different variants of the COVID and SARS viruses.
In Phase 1, the vaccine was tested on humans who hadn’t been vaccinated or infected with any COVID variants. It is yet to be tested on people who have been infected with COVID-19 or have been vaccinated.
The Walter Reed Institute of the US Army is working on the rollout of the new vaccine with an industry partner that hasn’t been disclosed.
‘No Escape’ from COVID-19 with Omicron
In his comments, Modjarrad declared the preemptive vaccines against all coronavirus diseases have been necessitated by the “accelerating emergence” in the past 20 years of human coronaviruses.
He described the achievements of his team with the SpFN vaccine as “very exciting” for the researchers themselves, and for the entire institute of the US Army.
Modjarrad emphasized the emergence of omicron means there will be no way for individual people to “escape this virus”. He made clear his belief that “pretty soon” the entire world would be either “infected” or “vaccinated”.
This report comes a day after Moderna announced a booster shot of its own vaccine increases antibodies 40 times and seemingly provides efficient protection against the new omicron variant.
Also, on Monday, the United States registered its first COVID-19 death caused by the omicron variant, which already accounts for 73% of all new infections throughout the nation.
Walter Reed Army Institute of Research is set to announce the development of a vaccine that they say is effective against all COVID and SARS variants. #SpFN
— m𝑒ʳʳ𝕪 𝕔hi𝓁𝓁mᵃ𝐬 (@chiIIum) December 22, 2021
US Military Claims Vax to Cure ALL Covid Variants
The US Defense Department has said it's weeks away from announcing a new universal Covid vaccine, a top medic told Defense One.
According to Dr. Kayvon Modjarrad, chief virologist at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, pic.twitter.com/qjB8p2ZJin
— 💫Queen of Seventeen 1️⃣7️⃣🥃❤️🇺🇲✝️ (@AreYouAwaQe) December 22, 2021
