White House pushes for next generation Covid vaccines

WASHINGTON: The White House on Tuesday held a summit with vaccine makers and scientists as it pushed for "next generation" Covid-19 vaccines that offer broader and more durable protection against the virus.

While current vaccines continue to confer strong protection against serious illness from Covid, the ongoing evolution of the virus has reduced their effectiveness against infection and transmission.

Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said the efforts would be based on two pillars: "pan-coronavirus" vaccines that would stand up to variants and "mucosal" vaccines that are delivered nasally to stop the virus where it enters.

"The goal of that is not only to protect against disease, but to protect against acquisition, and by acquisition, transmission," he said of the intranasal vaccine.

Achieving a pan-coronavirus vaccine might be possible by taking pieces of different variants, which is called a "mosaic" approach.