Q1 · CROSS-FIELD
Article
Author: Becker, Stephan ; Sauerhering, Lucie ; Jany, Sylvia ; Rohde, Cornelius ; Liangliang, Nan ; Tscherne, Alina ; Limpinsel, Leonard ; Seilmaier, Michael ; Werner, Anke ; Förster, Reinhold ; Freudenstein, Astrid ; Sandrock, Inga ; Haagmans, Bart L. ; Wendtner, Clemens-Martin ; Kupke, Alexandra ; Sutter, Gerd ; Halwe, Sandro ; Guggemos, Wolfgang ; Odak, Ivan ; Schmidt, Jörg ; Klüver, Michael ; Volz, Asisa ; Gellhorn Serra, Michelle ; Schwarz, Jan Hendrik ; Okba, Nisreen M. A. ; Kalodimou, Georgia ; Brosinski, Katrin ; Bošnjak, Berislav ; Duell, Elke
Significance:The highly attenuated vaccinia virus MVA is licensed as smallpox vaccine; as a vector it is a component of the approved adenovirus-MVA–based prime-boost vaccine against Ebola virus disease. Here, we provide results from testing the COVID-19 candidate vaccine MVA-SARS-2-S, a poxvirus-based vector vaccine that proceeded to clinical evaluation. When administered by intramuscular inoculation, MVA-SARS-2-S expresses and safely delivers the full-length SARS-CoV-2 S protein, inducing balanced SARS-CoV-2–specific cellular and humoral immunity, and protective efficacy in vaccinated mice. Substantial clinical experience has been gained with MVA vectors using homologous and heterologous prime-boost applications, including the immunization of children and immunocompromised individuals. Thus, MVA-SARS-2-S represents an important resource for developing further optimized COVID-19 vaccines.