VIDO hoping to begin further booster testing in new year

A team at the University of Saskatchewan is getting closer to approval for a Saskatchewan-made COVID-19 booster shot.

Dr. Volker Gerdts, CEO of the Vaccine Infectious Disease Organization (VIDO), said the organization is preparing for the next trial in Canada where its vaccine will be tested as a boost to people who have already been vaccinated.

“As you can imagine, that’s going to be the future. We probably will need annual boosters like annual flu shots for this disease,” Gertz told Gormley on Wednesday.

Many new vaccines are being developed to counter the growing list of COVID-19 variants and mutations spreading in different areas of the world. VIDO will be submitting its study design for approval to potentially begin trials early next year.

It’s also currently undergoing two trials in different African countries in an effort to make its COVID vaccine available to areas of the world that don’t have significant access to vaccines.

The trials using the U of S vaccine are located in Uganda and Senegal.

VIDO recently received a $6-million award from the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), an international organization that was established by some of the leading countries and organizations in the world, including Canada and the World Health Organization (WHO).

The goal of the coalition is to help the world prepare for newly emerging diseases. Gerdts said the funding will help VIDO continue to develop new platforms and new vaccines for future COVID-19 variants that develop.

The University of Saskatchewan is the only Canadian university to have received funding from CEPI.

Gerdts said the point of VIDO and CEPI is to create vaccine options that will allow the world to respond to future diseases and strains.

“This is an effort in helping the world to prepare for these new variants as they emerge and rapidly respond to them,” Gerdts said.

To do that, Gerdts said it’s important to develop platforms, the basis of new vaccines, which allow for virologists to quickly respond to new diseases. That rapid development helps facilitate fast creation and emergency testing of vaccines to get them out to the public as soon as possible to counter the emerging illness.

Gerdts said the new VIDO booster has had “very good responses” in human volunteers to date. The new trials will try to prove that the vaccine is safe when used in combination with other authorized vaccines.