New Indian COVID-19 vaccine candidate can sustain 100 degrees celsius; Check here all you need to know

A heat-resistant COVID-19 vaccine which is being developed in India showed strong antibody response against coronavirus variants, including Delta and Omicron, according to a study on mice.

Many other vaccines in the world require refrigeration to remain effective. However this new vaccine candidate is heat-tolerant and can be stored at 37 degrees Celsius for four weeks and at 100 degrees Celsius for up to 90 minutes.

The vaccine candidate, is being made by the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bengaluru and biotech start-up company Mynvax.

Where as other vaccines like Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, in India its called as Covishield needs 2-8 degrees Celsius and Pfizer needs minus 70 degrees Celsius to sustain.

According to the in mice, new candidate vaccine is immunized with different formulations of the vaccine to elicit high titers (unit to measure amount or concentration) of antibodies that neutralize SARS-CoV-2 variants VIC31 (reference strain), Delta and Omicron variants of coronavirus.

Compared to VIC31, there was an average 14.4-fold reduction in neutralisation against the Omicron variant for one formulation of the Mynvax vaccine and a 16.5-fold reduction for another formulation.

The corresponding values for reduction in neutralisation against Delta variant were 2.5 and 3, according to the researchers.

"The average 14.4- or 16.5-fold reduction in neutralisation against Omicron BA.1.1 for the monomeric and trimeric formulations, respectively, compares favourably with equivalent reductions observed with leading COVID-19 vaccines," the authors of the study noted.

"Our findings suggest that monomeric formulations are suitable for upcoming Phase I human clinical trials and that there is potential for increasing the efficacy with vaccine matching to improve the responses against emerging variants," they wrote in the journal.

CSIRO's evaluation of the different Mynvax formulations will support the selection of the most suitable candidate and dosage for planned human clinical trials in India.

The heat tolerance of the vaccine and its ability to withstand transient thermal shocks is particularly promising to address the vaccine inequity that affects most low- and lower-middle-income countries, the researchers added.

(With inputs from PTI)