The UMCG is looking for 600 volunteers between 18 and 85 years old who want to test a booster shot with candidate vaccine AKS-452 against corona.
The UMCG has previously conducted research into the effect of the AKS-452 (Akston) vaccine in healthy, unvaccinated volunteers.
‘Positive results were found in this study,’ the UMCG writes. ‘The vaccine turned out to be safe and can offer very good protection against the corona virus. Laboratory research also showed that the antibodies produced by the participants after vaccination with the Akston vaccine protect against the omikron variant.’
Immune system response
The aim of the booster study is to investigate the immune system’s response to an Akston booster shot in 600 volunteers who have already been vaccinated with an EMA-registered vaccine. This includes the vaccines from Pfizer, Moderna, Janssen and AstraZeneca.
It is also being investigated whether people can be effectively protected against new variants of the coronavirus for a long time, in order to prevent periodic vaccination.
No mRNA vaccine
The Akston vaccine is based on a spike protein, which is fused to a protein fragment of a human antibody. No genetic material is used in this type of vaccine. So it is not an mRNA vaccine, nor does it use any other virus.
The Akston vaccine is easy to transport to other parts of the world without refrigeration, where storage temperatures of -80°C (the storage temperature of currently registered vaccines) are impossible and vaccination coverage is low, such as in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
Volunteers
Voluntary study participants must be healthy, have had their last shot at least three months ago, and not yet have another COVID-19 booster vaccine. Participants will receive one dose of the vaccine candidate.