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Lorena Sánchez Felipe is a Spanish researcher who works in the Rega Institute of the University of Leuven (Belgium). This center is developing a single dose of the coronavirus vaccine, based on the yellow fever remedy and could protect you for life.
She is the only Spanish member of the team: “I have been working here for four years in the vaccine group. My main work is the design, the discovery of new vaccines. I take care of all the part of molecular biology related to them “.
They await authorization in 2022
Regarding the treatment based on the yellow fever vaccine, She details that “from the moment we started working I quickly made the designs based on the knowledge we already had of other vaccines. We have made an incredible effort. We have joined several teams working on different parts that were necessary to try to create the vaccine as soon as possible. “
Scientists at the Rega Institute trust that this vaccine is authorized in 2022 after good results of tests carried out on hamsters and which must be completed subsequently with human trials.
Johan Netys, head of the center, details in EFE what “We have seen that in hamsters our vaccine is very effective, a single dose fully protects them in just ten days against SARS-Cov-2 infection. The advantage of our vaccine is that it also helps in places where yellow fever is endemic, such as Latin America and Africa, that can be a bonus. Further, can be stored at 5 degreesIt will most likely have long-term protection and will also protect against yellow fever. ”
In great quantities
It is planned that human trials will begin next fall. Therefore, the laboratory now operates with the Dutch company Batavia Biosciences to manufacture the vaccine in large quantities and to be able to carry out the trials in volunteers: “We are a small academic laboratory, we cannot produce a vaccine in the quantity that is needed to carry out clinical trials, we are working with a company in the Netherlands, which is producing the vaccine for these tests “, says Sánchez Felipe.
Regarding the recipients, Netys points out that it could be both the population of Europe and the United States already vaccinated as “the countries where yellow fever is endemic or in Asia, where the mosquito that transmits it is also found in some areas and it could create epidemics.”