Are nasal Covid vaccines coming? The question comes up regularly as clinical trials for these vaccine candidates often encounter failures in phase 1. However, a recent article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (Pnas) has raised hope. Ohio University researchers are working on using modified measles and mumps viruses to develop a trivalent nasal vaccine against Covid-19 and several of its variants.
Initial tests in rodents suggest that the MMS vaccine, based on the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine, could provide prolonged protection against Covid-19, with antibodies persisting for at least four months in hamsters. This trivalent vaccine could protect against the initial strain of SARS-CoV-2 as well as two variants, delta and omicron BA.1.
The intranasal vaccine elicited a strong neutralizing antibody response in two rodent species and protected the mucous membranes of the nose and lungs, preventing symptoms such as weight loss and tissue damage.
According to the article, the MMS vaccine represents a new generation of COVID-19 vaccine candidates, providing broad and durable protection using a 50-year-proven platform that also protects against measles and mumps. In addition, it can be quickly adapted in the event of the appearance of new variants of SARS-CoV-2.
Until now, all Covid-19 vaccines have been administered intramuscularly, but research into intranasal vaccines continues around the world. As of January 2023, more than a hundred nasal vaccines were in development, twenty of which were in clinical trials. However, many candidates fail in phase 1 despite solid pre-clinical data.
 Pascal Lemontel
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09/10/2023 | 
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