Duke Leading Efforts to Develop Pan-Coronavirus Vaccine

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) awarded the Duke Human Vaccine Institute (DHVI) $17.5 million in October 2021 to proceed with development of a next-generation “pan-coronavirus” vaccine, one that protects against multiple coronaviruses and variants. Earlier last year, researchers at DHVI announced that they had designed a pan-coronavirus vaccine that showed evidence of protection against the current COVID-19 virus and variants, as well as related coronaviruses. The NIAID funding will enable DHVI to expand on those advances and prepare to respond rapidly to new coronavirus threats.

“If it’s possible to have a vaccine immediately available when a new pathogen emerges, we could limit much of what has been so deadly and disruptive about the current COVID-19 pandemic.”

— Barton Haynes, MD, director of DHVI