Research roadmap for coronavirus vaccine development

Inactivated vaccines

visit roadmap

Inactivated vaccines

Research Question

To examine whether killed virus represents a realistic route to
immunity and regulatory approval, especially in the post mRNA, viral
vector landscape. The case may be stronger for animal vaccines than
human vaccines, since multivalent inactivated vaccines are popular
already in this space

Inactivated vaccines are still widely used and have established efficacy,
e.g. for influenza, Rotavec, and SARS-CoV-2. It remains to be seen if
their use and practicality can be replaced by a next generation of
vaccines, and whether this is a globally applicable scenario or restricted
to certain countries
Improved adjuvants would help tackle the relatively poorer cell-mediated immune response
There are multivalent formulations, e.g. Rotavec – could this be
expanded to other hosts?

Side-by-side comparison of efficacy between different vaccine
platforms
Cost benefit analysis of production pipelines to understand the barriers to implementation of newer technologies
More research on adjuvants and/or how to boost cellular immunity

Inactivated virus vaccines designed to combat canine coronavirus seem
to be a good example of long-lasting protective immunity, generally
eliciting protective immunity 21 days after the primary vaccination and
lasting one year. However, it has proved difficult to induce prolonged
strong immunity with some other animal coronavirus vaccines.
From past experience in SARS-CoV, dengue virus, measles and
respiratory syncytial virus vaccines, inactivated vaccines are associated
with concerns of antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE).
(Xu L., Ma Z., Li Y., Pang Z., Xiao S. Antibody dependent enhancement: Unavoidable problems in vaccine development. Adv Immunol. 2021;151:99–133)
China used an inactivated SARS2 vaccine extensively, Sinovac, to manage the pandemic. There are extensive studies comparing vaccine efficacy between this vaccine and other vaccines, e.g. PMID: 35412612
While safer in terms of reversion, inactivated vaccines often require adjuvants to boost immune responses. Examples include trivalent vaccines like Rotavec Corona for cattle (administered to pregnant cows to provide passive immunity to calves through colostrum) and Nobivac Canine1-Cv for dogs (vaccine is particularly useful in multi-dog environments, such as shelters and breeding facilities, where outbreaks of CCoV can spread rapidly). However, these vaccines may not induce the same level of cellular immunity as live attenuated vaccines