The White House organized a “summit” on Tuesday to promote the development of “new generation” vaccines against Covid-19, that is, ones that confer longer-lasting and broader protection than current vaccines.

The summit brought together scientists, officials from the Joe Biden administration, but also representatives from the pharmaceutical industry, including Pfizer and Moderna.

“Pan-coronavirus vaccines” and “mucous vaccines”

If the already authorized vaccines continue to protect very well against severe cases of the disease, the mutations of the different variants of the virus that have been appearing over time have reduced their effectiveness, particularly in preventing infection and transmission , and reminders have quickly become necessary. .

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Infectious Diseases and an adviser to Joe Biden on the health crisis, said efforts toward next-generation vaccines rest on “two pillars”: “coronavirus vaccines” and ” mucosal vaccines. .

Specifically: a universal vaccine aimed at all coronaviruses, or a nasal spray type vaccine. This second possibility would stimulate an immune response “at the local level”, to attack the virus very quickly “where it enters”.

“The goal is not just to protect against the disease, but to protect against its acquisition and, with it, transmission,” explained Anthony Fauci.

An ambitious goal

Many studies are currently underway to develop this type of vaccine. Regarding a universal vaccine against all coronaviruses, two strategies are being studied, Dr. Fauci detailed: using one element common to all targeted viruses, or a “mosaic” approach, taking multiple parts of the virus.

Moderna’s and Pfizer’s current vaccines actually target the virus’s only spike protein, on its surface, but it is susceptible to mutation.

However, achieving such a universal vaccine remains “ambitious” at the moment, Dr. Fauci cautioned, noting the important role that the pharmaceutical industry must play in this goal.

Meanwhile, the US executive has asked the companies that supply the current vaccines to update their formula so that it confers greater efficacy against the Omicron variant specifically. The government expects a big recall campaign with this new formula in the fall.