Queenslanders recruited to trial needle-free, at-home COVID vaccine

Queenslanders are testing the safety of a needle-free COVID-19 vaccine developed in Canada.

Queenslanders have been recruited for a trial of a needle-free COVID-19 vaccine designed to be taken at home, if it’s approved by international medicine regulators.

Nucleus Network, which has facilities in Brisbane, Melbourne and Minneapolis, in the US, has begun early safety trials of the vaccine, ingested as a liquid.

Developed by Canadian-based biotechnology company Symvivo, the oral vaccine is stable at room temperature – a key advantage over existing COVID-19 shots.

The Pfizer vaccine, the only one so far approved by Australia’s medicines regulator, the Therapeutic Goods Administration, needs to be stored at -70C.

Traditionally, vaccines are usually given as an injection. But a trial is underway in Queensland testing a COVID-19 vaccine, administered as a liquid.

Symvivo president Alexander Graves has said the “ultimate goal” of the company’s oral vaccine is for it to be delivered directly into people’s homes for self administration.

The company’s COVID-19 vaccine uses genetically modified probiotic bacteria to deliver synthetic DNA, which encodes for the spike protein from SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, hopefully inducing an immune response.

Nucleus Network’s Brisbane medical director Associate Professor Paul Griffin.

Nucleus Network’s Brisbane medical director Paul Griffin described the vaccine as “a very novel approach”.

“It’s a really clever vaccine, if it works,” Associate Professor Griffin said.

“It looks likely to be both safe and effective in preclinical laboratory and animal studies.

“It this is also proven to be the case in human trials that would be very exciting, but we need to wait for data that shows that before we make any claims to that effect.”

The Symvivo vaccine is being tested in 24 people in Brisbane aged between 18 and 55 before bigger studies if it’s shown to be safe.

Originally published as Queenslanders recruited to trial needle-free, at-home COVID vaccine