New HIPRA booster vaccine being tested – also effective with Omikron?

The vaccine with the name  COVID-19  VACCINE HIPRA or PHH-1V is currently in the so-called rolling review process of the EMA. The first results and studies on the new vaccine are checked before the official application for approval. As a result, approval can ultimately be accelerated.

What vaccine is HIPRA?

HIPRA is a recombinant protein vaccine. It thus belongs to the same vaccine group as the vaccine from  Novavax  or Vidprevtyn® from Sanofi. Just like these, HIPRA contains an adjuvant that enhances the effect of the vaccine. This is an equivalent of the adjuvant MF59C.1, which is already contained in some flu vaccines, among other things.

What is special about HIPRA?

HIPRA contains only part of the spike protein of the  coronavirus  – more precisely the so-called receptor-binding domain, with which the virus can dock to the host cell. In contrast to other approved vaccines, the vaccine does not contain the wild-type receptor binding domain, but rather the alpha and beta variants of SARS-CoV-2. The delta and omicron variants were not considered because the research process started a long time before these variants began to spread.

So far, only results on the effect on mice have been published. According to the first study results on mice, the general protective effect against a fatal course of COVID-19 is 100 percent. A human study with 3,000 participants from Spain, Portugal and Italy is currently underway.

According to the manufacturer, however, the vaccine should also be highly effective against the omicron variant. The researchers attribute this to the broader effect in relation to newer variants. More detailed information on this is not yet available.

Who will the vaccine be used on?

It is currently planned to use the vaccine in people over the age of 18 whose basic immunization with other  corona vaccines  has already been completed. It is therefore a pure booster vaccine.