A team of researchers at the University of Iowa and the University of Georgia, USA have developed a vaccine that fully protects mice against a lethal dose of MERS, a notorious, close cousin of SARS-COV2 that causes COVID-19. Surprisingly, they found that their MERS vaccine also holds promise for developing vaccines against other coronaviruses diseases, including COVID-19, which at present holds many nations including India to ransom.
mBio, the Journal of the American Society for Microbiology published the results of the study on April 7, 2020.
“Our new study indicates that PIV5 may be a useful vaccine platform for emerging coronavirus diseases, including SARS-CoV-2, the virus causing the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic,” says McCray, UI professor of paediatrics in a press release from the University of Iowa Health Care.
Professor Paul McCray responded promptly to my e-mail queries on the project. Based on the paper and the responses of Professsor McCray I wrote an article in EURASIA REVIEW.
ksparthasarathy 