Army Announces Development of COVID Vaccine That Fights Against All COVID Variants
A U.S. Army soldier from the 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, prepares Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines to inoculate people at the Miami Dade College North Campus on March 09, 2021 in North Miami, Florida. The soldiers deployed to assist the Federal Emergency Management Agency at the state-run, federally-supported COVID-19 Community Vaccination Center. Joe Raedle/Getty Images

The United States Army has developed a COVID vaccine that may provide protection against all COVID variants, with the vaccine already completed phase 1 trials.

An Army spokesperson said that the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research has developed a 24-sided object, wherein it attached different protein spikes from COVID variants, according to a Fox News report.

The spokesperson said that researchers have yet to test the vaccine against the omicron variant despite completing phase 1 trials.

In early 2020, researchers received a sample and focused efforts on developing a vaccine that would work against possible variants. They got the initial results almost two years later, which looked promising.

April 2021 marked the start of phase 1 human trials, and scientists hailed the early data as encouraging. Final phase 1 study results will be published once the analysis has been completed.

Dr. Kayvon Modjarrad, director of the Emerging Infectious Diseases Branch at WRAIR said that the vaccine developed in the army stands out in the COVID vaccine landscape.

Modjarrad said that the COVID spike protein on a multi-faceted nanoparticle may stimulate immunity in such a way that translates into significantly wider protection.

The army-developed Spike Ferritin Nanoparticle COVID vaccine in early 2020. SpFN remains unclear if it will be a single or multiple-shot vaccine.

Modjarrad said that it is very exciting to get to this point for their entire team, as well as for the Army.

Army Developed a COVID Vaccine

Walter Reed is working with an unnamed industry partner for the next distribution of the rollout, according to a Daily Mail report.

The statement from Walter Reed officials said that scientists from WRAIR remain encouraged by the early data from preclinical studies.

The statement continued that they are testing against variant ongoing in a neutralization assay in the laboratory.

Modjarrad said that the vaccine has yet to undergo second and third trials, according to a New York Post report.

Meanwhile, WRAIR will also be testing how the new vaccine interacts with people who were previously vaccinated or previously infected with the virus.

Modjarrad said that they still need to evaluate the new COVID vaccine in the real-world setting and try to understand how it performs in a much larger number of individuals.

Omicron Variant in The United States

The omicron variant spreads even faster as compared to other COVID strains and now accounts for nearly three-quarters of new infections in the U.S. last week.

With this in mind, U.S. President Joe Biden announced on Tuesday that the government would provide 500 million free rapid home testing kits.

Biden also announced that the federal government would boost vaccination efforts amid the fast-spreading omicron variant.

Meanwhile, Dr. Anthony Fauci said that the variant was spreading at a "truly unprecedented" rate.

Biden said that the situation is not the same as in March 2020, adding that the country is prepared and knows more, according to a BBC News report.

Biden said that if people are not yet fully vaccinated, they have reason to be concerned.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by Mary Webber

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